Our Love On The Run

Kill 5 birds With One Stone With This Breakfast Idea!!

2012-03-04T18:42:00.000-05:00

Not to toot my own horn here, but I just baked this totally kick a$$ breakfast thing. It's high in protein, is loaded with veggies, has lots of Omega 3 and calcium and iron. I baked it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees in an 8x8" pan. After it cooled, I cut it into 4 squares. I'm going to toast some whole wheat bread and make it into a breakfast sandwich. I never follow recipes and I rarely measure things so not exactly sure how much of everything I added, but the ingredients are:
-8 organic, omega 3 eggs (**4 whole eggs and 4 egg whites)
-About half a red pepper (raw)
-About half an orange pepper (raw)
-Some chopped red onion (raw)
-Maybe 2 cups of raw organic spinach, chopped
-Milk (maybe like 3 seconds worth?)
- All-natural, uncured Applegate Farm ham (2 slices)
-All-natural, low-fat Cabot brand mozzarella
-Sprinkles of pepper

It's about 3/4" thick. After cutting them I placed them in a square container and popped em in the fridge. All set for breakfast tomorrow and Tuesday!!

Enjoy!

I Finally Found a Protein Bar I like!!!

2012-02-12T17:25:00.000-05:00

Hi all, happy Sunday! Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Things are going well here, my Boston Marathon training is going really well so far and my foot is getting better each day.

A couple of weeks ago Ryan and I got some free protein bars in the mail from PureFit. PureFit bars are all-natural, gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, vegan, kosher and high in protein. I have been looking for an all-natural protein bar for years now and haven't found too many that I like or that I believe to be TRULY all-natural. To be honest, I had low expectations about PureFit bars solely because I had never heard of them before. And then when I found out they were wheat-free, dairy-free etc., I wasn't expecting much.
The first bar I tried was called "Almond Crunch" and it was delicious! I actually felt sad as I was eating the last bite. The next day I tried "Berry Almond Crunch" and the day after that I tried "Peanut Butter Crunch." All 3 flavors were great!! Here's what I like about the bars aside from the taste:

-18 grams of protein

-SIGNIFICANTLY less saturated fat than the protein bars I ate before. These have as low as .5 grams (the other bars I was eating had 5 grams).

-Decent size bar!

-Bar is slightly moist, much easier to eat than the chalky bars I was eating before. Also, sometimes those thick/heavier bars are hard to swallow after a hard run.

-Less sugar than other bars (and the kind I was eating before)

-No after-taste

-These bars won't melt and they won't freeze (unlike the bar I was eating before, it either melted or froze in the car, making it impossible to eat mess-free after a race!)

Unfortunately there are not many stores in my area that carry PureFit bars but I can (and already did) order more online (directly from PureFit or through Amazon). Each bar is $2 or less, depending on where you order them from.

I don't know if PureFit bars will ever be at a marathon expo any time soon but if you get the chance to try these bars I highly recommend them!!! I know protein bars aren't for everyone body but if you are looking for a good option this is definitely one to try!!

Have you tried PureFit bars before? What kind (if any) do you typically eat?

Why Does This ALWAYS Happen??

2012-02-03T08:42:00.000-05:00

Soooo hot and itchy!!!!! No matter how much I cover up I Always get an itchy stomach after winter runs!!! Ahh. You too??

How Do You Display Your Medals ???

2012-01-29T20:31:00.000-05:00

In the past, we've just hung our medals on doorknobs, or random nails that happened to be in our apartment walls. However, for this Christmas, Miss Bethany decided that she wanted to get a medal hanger for the wall, but she didn't really see anything that she liked enough to buy. On Christmas morning, Bethany's dad surprised us with homemade medal hangers that he had made from scratch. It was one of Bethany's favorite Christmas presents. Bethany's plan is to display only the current year's medals on the hanger (as seen in the picture below). My plan is to just put my favorite medals on the hanger, regardless of year.

The hooks turn up on the ends, allowing for multiple medals to be hung on each hook. Each rack has 12 hooks on. Both racks read "13.1 NAME 26.2," it's hard to see Bethany's because it's in pink, the exact color pink as her bike. We love our medal hangers and maybe someday we'll get a few more to hang around the house.

We've made a running wall, with our medal hangers, and around the hangers are photos from races.

So how do YOU display your medals?!

Also, GO PATRIOTS!

Us with the AFC Championship trophy!

Disney Marathon Weekend Recap

2012-01-22T21:52:00.000-05:00

Well I guess it's better late than never. Here's our 2012 Disney Marathon Weekend Race Report. This year we did the 5k, Half-Marathon, and Full-Marathon. It was Bethany's 7th Goofy Challenge, Ryan's 2nd Goofy Challenge, and Bethany's parents' 1st 5k ever!!

The 5k was fun, we walked (with some jogging interspersed) with Bethany's parents. We all stayed together and we all had a great time!! Bethany will be running the 5k with her mom during Disney's Princess Half Marathon weekend in February.

The half-marathon was easy and laid-back. Bethany and I ran together, and just kind of enjoyed each other's company. We ended up running something like 2:12, and finished feeling good and strong, ready for the full marathon the following day.

Unfortunately, somehow, Ryan got really sick the night before the marathon. He was up and in the bathroom all night. At 2:30am I ran to the store at the hotel and bought a bottle of Pepto-Bismol and some Pepto tablets. Ryan was feeling like crap and was pretty weak but decided to head to the start of the marathon regardless. Even though he was sick all night, he did NOT appear to be dehydrated so I was comfortable with letting him start the marathon. Ryan did not eat anything for breakfast and during the race all he ate was some Sport Beans and a tiny piece of chocolate. He was drinking water and was staying hydrated. Obviously he had no energy and wasn't feeling too well so we knew it was going to be a slow day. Our pace pretty much just got slower and slower (until mile 24.5 when he turned it on and I was having trouble keeping up with him!!!) We ended up finishing in 5:30:49. It wasn't pretty at all but we got it done!!! I know what it feels like to run a marathon on COMPLETE EMPTY and it sucks! Not easy at all and anything but fun. Overall, Ryan did a great job and is one tough cookie!! Thank you, Pepto-Bismol!!!!!

All four of us before the 5k.

Family Fiesta 5k Start Line. Three Caballeros. ¡Ole!

Ryan during the 5k, with Epcot in the background.

Miss Bethany's first day of facepaint on this vacation. She is a big kid, and her inner child comes out at Disney World.

Ryan after the full-marathon. He had MAJOR stomach issues all night before the race, was up sick in the bathroom, and it took 5 doses of Pepto to get him through to the finish line. Grueling, but we made it.

Feeling a little better after a post-race nap.

Day 2 of Miss Bethany's facepaint, this time at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Ryan with Kermit-style Mickey ears. Ryan LOVES Kermit and the Muppets.

Miss Bethany going ballistic in the arcade. Our favorite silly game was "Go Ballistic." So silly, but we won over 3,000 tickets. :-p

So sad to leave Disney, but Miss Bethany will be back next month for the Princess Half Marathon!

Perfectly Goofy Streak Continues!

2012-01-08T18:27:00.000-05:00

Ryan and I finished another Goofy's Challenge today. It was #2 for Ry and #7 for me.
Poor Ryan almost didn't make it to the start of the marathon! He was up sick all night last night and he wasn't even sure if he could physically run but we stuck together and he did it. It wasn't pretty but he made it. Will post a race report soon!
Congrats to all finishers!!

2011 Recap (We're Back!)

2012-01-01T21:45:00.000-05:00

Hey guys - we're back! It's been a while, but we're finally back in the blogosphere. Here's a quick recap of the races we've run in 2011, and what's next for us in 2012.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Walt Disney World - Goofy's Challenge
Hyannis Marathon
Black Cat 20 Miler
New Bedford Half Marathon
Boston Marathon
Cox Providence Half Marathon
Blackstone Valley Half Marathon
Pineland Farms 50km (Honeymoon!)
San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon (Honeymoon!)
Around the Lake 12 Hr Ultra (and Marathon)
Providence Rock n Roll Half Marathon
Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon
Boston Athletic Association Half Marathon
Mount Desert Island Marathon
Stonecat 50 Miler (and Trail Marathon)

Here are some photos from throughout the year:

Pineland Farms 50km in our "just married" shirts

RnR San Diego Marathon! Also in our "just married" shirts

After party at Disney's Wine & Dine Half Marathon. Got to play at Epcot til 3am!

Mount Desert Island Marathon! So beautiful! We already signed up for 2012!!

Ryan finishing his FIRST 50 miler!!! 10:40:00!

We've had a lot to be thankful for in 2011. What a great year for us! Sad to see it go but it's time to focus on the good things that 2012 will bring. Happy New Year to all!!!

Up next for us will be Disney's Goofy's Challenge. This will be Ryan's 2nd Goofy and Bethany's 7th Goofy.

We are going to start posting regularly again. Thanks to those who are still reading and following us!!!!

Disney's Wine and Dine Half Marathon (a.k.a. THE BEST RACE EVER)

2011-10-19T21:07:00.000-04:00

Ok so we've been MIA for months....but we are back so please give us a second chance! Thanks.

After 14 years of running I FINALLY have a favorite race...Disney's Wine and Dine Half Marathon! This seriously was the best and most fun race I have ever run. I was smiling ear to ear the entire time and I loved every step. The race started at 10:00pm at ESPN's Wide World of Sports complex. There was the usual Disney characters and fireworks at the start. The race course went through Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Boardwalk and then finished right outside of Epcot. All DIsney races run through the parks but this race ran through the parks significantly more than any other Disney race I have run. We were in Animal Kingdom for almost 2 miles and in Hollywood Studios for over 2 miles. The entire course was well lit and of course there was plenty of entertainment, characters, music etc.
EPCOT was open for all runners and spectators until 3:00am and we got to enjoy rides (with NO lines) and Disney's Food and Wine Festival in the World Showcase. The food was delicious and reasonably priced. We had a great time! We stayed until 3:00am and got to bed around 4:15am. BEST RACE EVER! Cool medals and shirts too!
We stayed at Disney's All-Star Sports for 3 nights and the entire trip was a blast from start to finish. We had so much fun together it felt like a second honeymoon. We are DEFINITELY planning on doing this race again next October!!

Our favorite ride at The Magic Kingdom

We went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party on Friday night 9/30 from 7p-12a. It was great and the Halloween parade was awesome and the tick-or-treating was fun too!

The entire park was decorated for Halloween!

Our candy from the halloween party

EPCOT's Food and Wine Festival

With our medals, just about the leave the park...See you in January!!!

Riding Test-Track at 2:50am...literally NO BODY in line, just us!

Aladin and Jasmine near Morocco

Leaving EPCOT at 3:04am

(check out my nails...I used those Sally Hansen sticker things, loved em! Well worth the $10!!)

Our typical sad-vacation-is-over picture. Ry is wearing the race shirt but it's hard to see...

This past Sunday we ran the Mount Desert Island Marathon up in Bar Harbor, Maine....Race report and pictures to follow very soon! Stay tuned!!

It's nice to be back, thanks to those who are still reading despite our blogging hiatus!!

Acupuncture Works!!!

2011-09-19T13:24:00.000-04:00

Sorry to let you all down on my last post. For those of you waiting for a "baby surprise" post, you're gonna be waiting a loooong time!!! Sorry to disappoint.

My heel has gotten SIGNIFICANTLY better since my last post. I've tried all sorts of things to solve my heel problem (as seen in last post) but the one thing that really worked for me was acupuncture. So far I have only gone 4 times, and already I've had huge improvements. I don't feel much of a difference immediately after the treatment, but when I wake up the next day I can feel a HUGE difference!! No more tightness, no more soreness in the mornings, no more stiffness and no more pain on bottom on my foot. I ran 4x last week including a long run of 11 miles. I feel like I am almost back to where I want to be but of course I will continue to take things slow and I will continue to do acupuncture 1x per week.

Think you can't afford acupuncture?? Look into "community" acupuncture, it is much cheaper! The place I go to is called "acupucnture for everyone," and the price is $15-$35 per session, paying whatever you can in that range. The catch? There are 4 recliners in 1 room and there are other people in the room with you. Supposedly acupuncture was intended to be done this way, in a group, but it has been modernized into an expensive, individual spa-like treatment. The only reason I tried acupuncture was because I could afford it (at the community level price!)

Does it hurt? No. Sometimes you can feel the pins go in but it's just a quick little sting and then it goes away. I have the acupuncturist leave the pins in for 1 hour and she places them near my elbows, wrists, middle of my forehead, on the outside of my knees, the side of my calves, near the outside of my left ankle, the inside of my left ankle and on the tops of my feet and I think a few more it he calf of my left leg. She also places a magnet on the bottom of my left foot. Sometimes I can feel energy, or what I think is energy, passing from pin to pin. I can feel the muscles relax and it feels like energy or something is moving throughout the muscles. If i had to pick a sound to describe it I would say ZIIIIIIIING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It feels gooood.

Well I certainly feel like I am on the mend but still not quite where I want to be. I don't feel that I've lost any endurance but I'm certain I've lost some speed. I do feel ready to add on distance but I do not feel ready to add on speed. Will probably give it another month. Next up is Disney's Wine and Dine half marathon on 10/1 and then Mount Desert Island in Maine on 10/16.

Let me know if you have any personal questions about acupuncture.

Also, on an unrelated note, did anyone sign up for Boston/get into Boston?? Good luck!!

I've Been Keeping a Secret...

2011-08-29T11:31:00.001-04:00

Hi blogger friends, time for me to tell you all my secret. Notice that I haven't been posting a lot? If we are fb friends then you may have noticed that I have not been running a lot either. That's right, I have not been running much these days. Maybe 1-3 times a week if i'm lucky and my mileage has been low, between 4-15 miles a week. No ladies, don't get excited, my secret is NOT what you are thinking...
Since May I have been having some pain and discomfort in my left heel. I believe I have a mild case of Plantar Faciitis. Back on May 21st I stupidly ran a half marathon in 1:40, I hadn't been running fast and I have no idea where that time came from. The last couple of miles I had some discomfort in my heel but it quickly went away after the race. Then on 5/29 I ran a 50K on trails, no discomfort whatsoever, I didn't feel a thing in my heel. On 6/5 I ran a marathon and felt some dull pain after mile 8 but it went away right after the marathon. The next 2 weeks I hardly ran at all, a few miles here and there. I've really been taking care of things and I feel that the problem is under control and I am being extremely smart about it. I have been running for 14 years injury free, this is the first problem I have ever had. It's frustrating but I'm taking care of it and I know it's not going to get any worse because I have been taking such good care of it. I have been running a little but not much. I know I have defintely lost some speed but I don't feel that I've lost any endurance.

Here are things I've been doing to take care of my heel:
(note: this is over a 3 month period!!!!)
-wearing night boot/splint every night for the past 2+ months. (I have a high-end one, it's very comfy and I love it! Will almost miss it when I don't need it anymore, that's how comfy it is!!!!)
-Ice (heel, arch, achillies, calf)
-the stick on my calf
-rolly ball for my arch
- LOTSSSS of stretching
-Acupunture (community acupuncture, it's VERY affordable)
-Gait analysis to try to find the problem
-switched my shoes, also bought shoes that are specifically for walking
-heel cups
-self-massage (not going to pay $100 for a massage. I can't seem to find anywhere affordable here in Boston.)
-running slooow, lots of walk breaks and running on trails whenever possible
-lots of rest!!!

Whie it is frustrating, i'm really not overly upset about it because I know it will get better and I do feel that it IS getting better. Currently, the discomfort is very minimal and sometimes I feel nothing, but i'm not going to run on it and make it worse. Not worth it. I do feel that it is improving and I have not yet cancelled any of my plans for this fall. I will take things slower, that's for sure but I still feel that I will be able to run the races I want to run. I feel like I have no right complaining or getting mad about it because, like I said, I have been running for 14 years injury free. I know my body is in sync with my running and I know that running does not normally cause my body injury or pain. I'll get back to that point, I just need to be patient and cautious for the time being.

Well there it is. Now that it's out, I feel I can start blogging more :-)
Thanks for listening!!!!

Honeymoon Pictures (in chronological order!)

2011-08-11T21:40:00.000-04:00

Here is our 3 week honeymoon in a nutshell....ENJOY.....

Pineland Farms 50K, New Glouster, Maine

Matching "just married" shirts in front of the castle (OMG the castle is SO small!!)

Day 1 of face painting.

Where is Ryan???? Sleeping in the hotel room! Early morning in the park by myself! SO fun!!!

Day 2 of face painting. Disney's California Adventure

Ryan won all these silly stuffed animals (he won several for kids too)

Realizing he cannot take the pup with us on the rest of the honeymoon. RIP Mudville Pooch

Waiting for the Amtrak train from Anaheim to San Diego!

Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon Expo

Fancy hotel toilet paper cover

San Diego Zoo

San Diego

Post-marathon pic

In cab on our way to the SD airport and then on to Vancouver!!

Another fancy hotel!!! Downtown Vancouver

The Olympic Torch!!

Dinner is a revolving restaurant in Vancouver

Our cruise ship! The Disney Wonder

Room #2090

Adios, Vancouver! See ya in a week!

"Congratulations" dessert

Tracy Arm, Alaska

Tracy Arm, AK

Panning for gold at Liarsville in Skagway, AK

So many characters on the cruise!

We played "Match Your Mate," we were the newlywed couple and we won!!!

Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, AK

Upside down trees at Glacier Gardens, Juneau

Ketchikan, AK

My attempt at drinking

YUCK! I hate alcohol!!!!

Kids drink...this is more like it! (see my nails, no French manicure for this bride. I had bright pink nails for the wedding!)

3 weeks of FUN...over...

Dinner in Portland, OR during our 8 hour lay over

Thanks for looking at our pictures!!!! :-)

7/29/11, My "Slowest Marathon" NOT my "Personal Worst"

2011-08-02T09:19:00.001-04:00

On Friday night I ran a marathon in Wakefield, MA. It was an 8 loop course around a lake and it started at 7pm, making it my first ever night marathon. My finish time was 5:06:53, 1 hour and 38 minutes slower than may personal best. Slow? To some people, maybe. "Worst?" Hell no, it was great!! It's not my personal worst, it's just my "slowest marathon." I refuse to call my 5:06 a "personal worst." What does that even mean? There was nothing bad about that marathon, it doesn't deserve the label of "worst." I had a great time, in fact, it was extremely enjoyable, all 26.2 miles. I ran the first 5 loops with an old friend and a new friend, the conversation was great, I had several belly-laugh moments when I could baarely catch my breath because I was laughing so hard. Then there was that good laugh when all 3 of us peed under a low tree branch together, right along the path at dusk. After the 5th lap, we lapped Ryan, who was running the 12 hour ultra (more from him soon). I decided to drop back and run with him. I ran 2 laps with Ryan in the heavy down pour, gosh, I love running in the warm rain in the summertime!!! We chatted with a few other runners, including one man who has been living in a motorhome for the past 7 years exploring America (my dream!!). I have spent years of my life living in a motor home traveling America as a kid so it was cool to meet him! I decided to run the last loop my by myself and this loop was definitely my strongest. Eventhough I had not run over 10 miles since RnR San Diego on 6/5/11, I felt really strong that last lap and picked up the pace a bit. At mile 24.5 I met up with a young man who was running his first marathon and was struggling, a volunteer yelled to us "stay together!" So we did. We ran the last bit together chatting the whole way. I finished the marathon around 12:15am. I changed my clothes, ate a sandwich then grabbed an old mylar blanket and a sweatshirt and set up my sleeping space alongside 20 tents. I laid down the mylar blanket, rolled the sweathshirt into a ball for a pillow and laid down on the grass to sleep under the stars. What better way to spend a summer's night?? A far cry from a "personal worst!"

RnR San Diego and Honeymoon Pictures!!!

2011-07-27T20:31:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! WOW, we haven't blogged in forever!! Our computer died so we had to get a new one and we were really slow with having to upload all our wedding/honeymoon pictures again.

I know it's a bit late for this race report BUT.....

On June 5th we ran the Rock n Roll San Diego Marathon as part of our honeymoon. On 5/29 we ran a 50K in Maine and then we flew to Disneyland for 4 days and then took the Amtrak train down to San Diego. While in San Diego we stayed at the Hard Rock hotel (in a suite!!!) it was a bit too swanky for us but we loved it and had a great time!
The weather on race morning was perfect! We had to walk to the start which was just under 2 miles away. The lines for the porta-potties were ridiculous! I swear there were at least 75 people in each line. We made it to the start with a few minutes to spare. We were supposed to be in corral 7 but we knew we were going to be taking it slow so we moved back into a slower corral (the volunteer gave us attitude and said we could not enter the corral bc we were supposed to be in #7, race rules clearly stated (as most races doe) you can move back corrals, just not forward, eventually she let us in.)
The race course was gorgeous!!! I felt like we really got to see the city and all its beauty. We ran through Balboa Park, down by the water, by navy ships and big boats, statues, art work, by the stadium where the Padres play etc. We had to run on a slanted highway for about 4 miles which kind of sucked but there were so many people to look at that it kind of took your mind off the slant. Once again we wore our "just married" shirts and people were going crazy screaming for us and congratulating us. Around mile 12 we started looking for the lovely Meg from Meg Runs! We were thrilled to see her, she was holding a sign for us! We stopped to take a picture with her, it was so nice to see you, Meg xoxo!!
Ryan was struggling a bit and didn't have much energy, he was slowing down and seemed to be getting more tired by the mile. Around mile 18 he drank a beer and magically spruced right back up. Then again, around mile 22 he drank another beer, semi frozen, slushy beer and then we started passing people like crazy! We were lucky enough to see Meg again around mile 20, she even ran with us for a bit!! The last 10 or so miles of this race were all along the water, it was truly gorgeous! We had a really strong finish, picking up the pace a lot in the last 4 miles! The finish was fun with our shirts, people were so friendly and nice to us!!
We finished the race in 4:35, kind of slow for us but we were just out for a good time and we still had a week and a half left of our honeymoon so we wanted to take things easy and just enjoy the course. We were outside longer than we planned and got a little too much sun. I put SPF on my lips but we were just out there for too long and I got a pretty painful sunburn there, NOT fun.

See the names on our bib #s?? Mr. and Mrs. Couto

After the race! You can see Sea World in the background

Ryan eating a sandwich he bought from a cart after the race

I don't trust food from carts, I'll stick with my Mix1!

Riding the bus back to the hotel

We took advantage of the free baseball tickets after the marathon. We only stayed for about 4 innings then we went out to eat. Beautiful stadium though!

Dinner at some place that was supposed to be like an old whore house. Ryan saw what the waitresses were wearing and wanted to eat there, lol.

Picture in the lobby at our hotel, just as we were leaving for Vancouver.

We have many many pictures from our honeymoon that we would LOVE to share with you all! Please stay tuned for our pictures from Disneyland, more from San Diego, Vancouver and Alaska!

Wordless Wednesday!

2011-07-06T17:45:00.001-04:00

Remember our sneaker pile from last year? We've tripled it! What is wrong with me? This mess does not bother me...at all! Btw, we live on the top floor with no immediate neighbors, so no one besides us (and now you) see this sneaker mess!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Honeymoon Race #1: Pineland Farms Trail 50Km

2011-06-21T21:37:00.001-04:00

The day after the wedding, we drove up to Maine to meet some friends the night before our favorite ultra, the Pineland Farms 50km. We did this race last year and loved it so much that we knew we'd come back even though it was scheduled two days after our wedding. (Yes, we made matching 'Just Married' shirts.)

The race director is AWESOME. We had met him last year, and seen him at other races throughout the course of the year and we told him our story, how we were getting married right before the race and then driving up for it. He surprised us with this huge wedding cake with our photo on it, and he also had us interview with the local news. (link here: http://www.wmtw.com/video/28063576/detail.html) Also, a HUGE thanks to race sponsor Merrell, who gave us such a nice wedding present!

Post-race with our finisher's cowbells. We had so much fun, we just took it easy and ran with some friends who had come up to run the race with us and continue the wedding celebration.

The back of our matching Just Married shirts.

This shows just how big the cake really was.

More honeymoon pics to come!

WEDDING PICTURES!!!

2011-06-16T21:11:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! We are back from our honeymoon! It was amazing! We had so much fun and both of our races went really well. I will try to post everything in order as it happened. First off, the wedding! I pulled these pictures off Facebook so the quality might not be the greatest. The wedding was May 27th and it was a beautiful HOT day! I felt so calm all day! I was petrified about walking down the aisle but it wasn't bad at all! :-) Enjoy the pictures!!!

These are some of the place cards that I made for each table. Each table was a different race with corresponding bib numbers. And yes, I even punched holes and put tiny safety pins in them!

Scary before picture

Walking down the aisle with my dad. It really wasn't that bad. I just smiled and kept looking at Ryan and no one else.

Exchanging the rings. Neither one of us cried at all the whole mass. I did have 2 giggles though.

Leaving church

Side view of my hair

This car belonged to my grandparents about 60 years ago. It is the car they bought when they got engaged.

Mr. and Mrs. Couto

Dancing

The cake. We were nice to each other, no smashing cake in face.

I will post more wedding pictures when we get them. Next we will post about our honeymoon race #1, Pineland Farms 50k, some of you may have already seen the pre-race interview with the local news.

Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Complete!

2011-06-05T22:53:00.000-04:00

RnR SD was great! Honeymoon races are over, now we can relax! 1 more night here in CA then off to Vancouver to catch our cruise on Tuesday. So many pix to share with you all when we get back!!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Newlyweds Run 50K At Pineland Farms Trail Running Festival - Video - WMTW Portland

2011-05-29T21:00:00.000-04:00

Newlyweds Run 50K At Pineland Farms Trail Running Festival - Video - WMTW Portland

Check out Ryan and Bethany being interviewed before the Pineland Farms 50k!!!

We're Married!!!!!

2011-05-27T16:20:00.000-04:00

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Wedding Morning Run!

2011-05-27T06:12:00.000-04:00

Heading off for my wedding morning run now! I'm running with my uncle Paul, who will act as my body guard in case there are any loose dogs or anything. As you can see, I have 2 small bouquets of flowers with me (which match the the wedding flower colors), I'm running to my grandfather's grave to drop one off and then I'm dropping the other one off at my godmother's grave. Should be about 7-8 miles roundtrip. And then it's back home to get ready! Wedding is at 3pm. Will try to post a pic via my blackberry. Have a happy Friday!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Book Review Part 1 and Wedding Update

2011-05-22T20:59:00.000-04:00

We recently started reading the book "Running on Empty" by Marshall Ulrich, one of the world's greatest endurance athletes. So far we are about half-way through the book and we are both really enjoying it. It's funny because we each have a copy so we are racing each other to see who can finish it first. The page number we are on is top secret, but I know I am ahead (this is Bethany). You can get more info/buy the book HERE.

The book touches upon many different ultras and endurance/adventure feats completed by Marshall but the main event of the book is his 52-day run across the United States of America that he completed when he was 57 years old! So far the book has been very exciting to read and his descriptions are so clear that I feel like I'm right there with him (although I'm glad I'm not because it sounds so grueling!) As soon as we are done with the book we will post a final review and since we have 2 copies, we will give one away.

Now for the wedding update! 5 days to go! Just about everything is all set and ready! We have so many FUN running related things that will be part of our wedding day but I don't want to post anything, just in case any of our guests are reading. I don't want to spoil our silly surprises. The funny thing is, a lot of the running-themed ideas I got for the wedding came from my mother's sarcasm, for example, cowbells for favors! (We already told you about the cowbells so it's okay to mention it). We will try to post a "just married" picture on Friday since I can take a pic on my blackberry and email it directly to the blog. So be on the look out this Friday for a post entitled "Just Married!"

Hope you all had a great weekend!!!

RIP Ginger :'-(

2011-05-19T21:32:00.000-04:00

As some of you know from facebook, Ryan's beloved pooch and friend, Ginger, died unexpectedly on Monday. It was such a shock to everyone. She still had plenty of good, healthy years left and she was FINE on Sunday. Totally unexpected. It has hit Ryan really hard, she was supposed to be "best dog" at our wedding next week. Now he is having trouble feeling excited about the wedding because he is so sad.
She really was the best dog ever, such a beautiful dog too. She LOVED teasing Ryan, almost as much as he loved teasing her. She was so gentle, she would let my nephew pet her and climb all over her. She loved eating pretzels and sitting directly in front of a fan all summer. She loved to hold hands; she would always go sit next to someone and give them her paw. She loved to play with Ryan and sometimes they'd play rough and she would lovingly bite his hands, no matter how hard I tried, she would NEVER even playfully bite my hands. If Ryan pinched her side she would turn and show her teeth (playing of course) but when I pinched her side she wouldn't even turn and look at me. She LOVED chewing and cuddling with her toys and was really smart. One time the mail-man rang the door bell and Ginger ran to her pile of toys and came back with her mail-man toy!! Ginger also had an eye for fashion apparently because one day I went to Ryan's house with a flower pin on my jean jacket and Ginger walked right up to me, jumped up on me (for like the first time ever) bit the pin right off my jacket and then walked away with it. She was the best dog I have ever known and her untimely death has shocked and saddened all of us.
I've been dreading Ginger's passing ever since I started dating Ryan and quickly learned just how much she meant to him. Ginger is the only female that I've ever felt threatened by in my relationship with Ryan. He would have picked Ginger over me in a second during the first few years of our relationship. Hello ladies, Ryan made ME sit in the BACK seat so GINGER could sit in the FRONT seat! True story!! This pooch meant everything to Ryan and his family and I feel so sad for all of them. :-(

This is Ryan's last picture he has with Ginger

LOVE YOU, GINGER!!!!!!

It's Official!!

2011-05-12T09:16:00.000-04:00

We got our marriage license! 15 days til our wedding!!
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Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-11T06:39:00.000-04:00

Ok, I'm adding words. Like my new wheels and my baby? A.k.a. My backpack from work and my lunch box?? It was a lovely run home from work!! Can't wait to do it again! Got a few laughs but most people knew what I was doing.
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Cox Providence 1/2 Marathon

2011-05-05T22:35:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post tonight to recap our Cox Rhode Races 1/2 Marathon in Providence, RI this past Sunday. Miss Bethany and I decided it'd be fun to just run a fun, easy half marathon together. We hadn't run a race together in a while, and we figured we were planning to do a long run anyway, might as well run a great race and have fun with it.

This was our third time doing this race, and it has definitely gotten better ever year. The expo has been getting better every year, the shirts are cool, the course is fun, the spectators and volunteers are great, and the free beer at the end is awesome. (And I always love going back to Providence, the city of my alma mater, Brown University.)

We started out nice and slow, around 9:30 pace. We gradually picked it up to about an overall average pace of 9:18 min/mile, and settle in at that for a few miles while my calf warmed up nicely. As we saw the miles tick away, we began to look at our watches and saw that if we reallllly pushed it the last few miles we might be able to squeeze in under 2 hours. Not wanting to test the calf, I was tentative to really pick it up, but we kept gradually increasing our pace until we were flying at the end. I thought we were gonna make it, but we ended up in 2:00:02. We just ran out of distance. Oh well, it was fun. I love negative splitting, and I love the races where you end up chasing a time, speeding up to try to hit it. (As opposed to races where you go out too fast and end up slowly seeing your average pace increase and your goal time slip away. I'd always rather be chasing my goal time rather than trying to hold onto it for dear life as I slow down. Those are the worst. Know what I mean?)

Anyway, it was a really fun race. After the race, we went and grabbed some chocolate milk and I had a free beer. Nothing like a good mix of chocolate milk and beer. Yum! After the milk/beer combo, we headed back out on the course to meet a friend and run another 4 miles.

Here are some pics from the day:

Pre-race.

Post-race.

Post-race at Bethany's house.

Meeting My Running Idol

2011-05-01T20:48:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, a little late with this post, but better late than never. So as some of you might know, on the Saturday before the Boston Marathon, the author of 'Born to Run' (Chris McDougall) held a 5 mile fun run and then had a presentation after the run. It was AMAZING. He brought special guests from the barefoot/minimalist running community, and he also brought my absolute running idol - Scott Jurek.

For those of you who don't know who Scott Jurek is, you're missing out. He is one of the most prominent ultra-marathoners in history, and he is one hell of a nice guy. Here's an idea of how badass he is:

7-time Winner of Western States Endurance Run (100 mi) (seven times in a row from 1999-2005)
American Record holder for 24-hr distance (165.7 miles)
2-time Winner of Badwater Ultramarathon (135 miles)
Winner of the Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run
3-time Winner of the Spartathlon (152 miles from Athens to Sparta)

Ever since I've started really following ultra-running, and getting into it, Scott has been a huge inspiration for my own running and my own personal ultra-goals/hopes/dreams. He totally pushes the boundaries of human ability, and it is truly inspiring to me. For example, I can't fathom how a human being can cover 165.7 miles in the span of 24 hours (on a 1 mile loop!!). I can't fathom how someone can be so consistently dominant so as to come back to WS100 (my dream race) each year and win it seven years in a row. Unreal.

Anyway, so when I heard he was going to be at this 'fun run,' I was stoked. There were about 50 or so people who came out for the fun run, and Bethany and I showed up to the fun run a little early, Chris McDougall gave us the run down, Scott came out and met us all, and we all took off for a 5 mile jaunt around the Charles River. It was awesome. Both Chris and Scott kept dropping back and chatting with everyone. Scott dropped back to the group I was running with, he said hi to us and I immediately got star-struck, haha, I'm not ashamed to admit it. Bethany got the convo going by saying 'Hey Ry, did you tell Scott what your ultimate ultra-running goal is?" And so I told Scott about my hopes to run Western States sometime in the future. Then we chatted about Western States, ultra-running, his future running plans, and other small talk. We ran together for about a little over a mile or so, just chatting as we cruised along the Charles. He is a truly awesome guy, totally down-to-earth. It was a complete honor to run alongside him. A totally awesome experience. I was telling people, it felt like I was a teenage girl singing onstage alongside Justin Bieber.

Running along the Charles with my running idol.

Me, Miss Bethany, and Scott

Chatting a little again after the presentation.

He signed my RaceMenu running hat. I wore it for Boston, and I also wore it for the Providence 1/2 today.

I love that he signed my hat by writing: 'Dig Deep!' It really puts things in perspective for me when I'm struggling through a 26.2 or whatever distance I'm running. It makes me think, hell, if Scott Jurek can run for 24 hours straight at an average pace of 8:41 min/mile, I think I can slog through 26.2, or 31, or 50, or hopefully somewhere in the near future: 100.

Boston Marathon 2011

2011-04-24T21:41:00.000-04:00

Here's our race recap from Monday! I know we've been a little slow with things lately, but we've got a lot going on! With the wedding planning, honeymoon planning, Ryan finishing up another semester of his Masters, and keeping busy at work and all, the blogging has definitely been lax lately. But here we go . . .

So we got to Boston Common around 6:30am or so, before the big crowds hit. There was a line, but nothing too long. Tall Mom (HERE), Ryan and I waited in line together and got on a bus around 7am. The ride seemed reallllly long, and after getting off the bus and strolling around the Athletes Village to find a good Port-a-Potty, we hunkered down by a Gatorade tent to wait. We ran into Steph (HERE) and we all waited together. As all the Wave 2 people were getting called, we said goodbye to Ryan and took off towards the start line. Ryan and Wave 3 followed shortly after.

Bethany:

After making a quick pit stop on the way to the start line, Tall Mom and I got into our corral with 13 seconds to spare. The run started, I felt great, and I was figuring I'd finish somewhere between 3:40 and 3:45, I knew I wasn't in shape for anything faster than 3:40, so I settled in around 8:25 pace. I did not wear my Garmin, and I didn't even pay attention to the mile markers, pretty much running based on how I felt. The sun felt warm, but it felt good. Everything went pretty smoothly, I kissed two girls in Wellesley (making sure to kiss only the girls with the 'I'm Gay' signs, not wanting to make anyone feel uncomfortable). Then at mile 15, I sat down, took my shoes off, put some Vaseline on my feet, and then I just kept running til the end. That was the only point where I stopped running. I did have the OneGoodEarBud music going in my left ear. If you haven't checked out OneGoodEarBud, you should check them out (HERE). For the last three miles, I kept replaying the same song over and over again (Lupe Fiasco 'The Show Goes On'), not sure why, I just liked the beat, and it felt right for the moment. I saw some of my friends spectating on the course at mile 25. My favorite part about the race was my "I <3 Ryan" sharpie-tattoo on my right arm. I crossed the finish line in 3:42:22, and felt fabulous. It was one of the most fun marathons I've run in a while, and definitely the most spectators I've ever seen along the Boston course.

Ryan:

So I didn't really have much expectation going into this race. I had been dealing with some calf issues leading up to it, so I wasn't putting too much pressure on myself. I just wanted to finish with no calf pain. That's all. So I started out pretty conservatively, not trying to push the calf too hard. The first thing I noticed on the course was the MASSIVE amount of spectators. Definitely the most I've ever seen. The first few miles were really nerve-wracking for me, because I kept expecting my calf to start bothering me. It definitely became a real mental thing for me. Even though I hadn't really had calf pain in like a month, I kept EXPECTING it, and it was playing games with my brain. Anyway, as the miles ticked away, I had no calf pain, but still kept going just nice and easy, not pushing it, even walking some uphills so as to not overstress the calf. Things were going great, I kept getting more and more confident with each mile. I started REALLY having fun with things at mile 13. I stopped and kissed four lovely Wellesley girls. That was fun :). I think that's a new record amongst our track club. I met a friend at about mile 16, and she ran with me for about 2 miles. She's great, and she's also my massage therapist, who helped me work out some of my calf issues before, so seeing her and running with her for a bit was fun. She had just run a 7-hr ultra the day before, so she's crazy for coming out and running with me.

Then I got to my favorite part of the race. I had known there would be a beer stop somewhere around mile 20. I was running along, when I had heard a yell from behind me "Who's going to have the 31st beer of the Boston Marathon?" So I stopped in my tracks, and immediately turned around and ran back and snagged not one, but two beers. YUM! I loved it, and the spectators got a kick out of it too. So I toasted to the spectators, pounded my beers, and took off running up Heartbreak. The rest of the race felt like a victory lap, I took it all in, high-fiving all the crazy BC kids. I would encourage their craziness and give them the hardest high-fives I possibly could. It was great. I loved it. Coming down Boylston, I saw my old apartment (right at mile 26), and my old roommate who still lives there, so that was cool too. I then saw my brother who was waiting at like mile 26.1, and he was going crazy too. I then crossed the finish line in 4:35:49, and feeling like a million bucks. While my marathon times have definitely gotten much slower, I've definitely switched to an ultra-mindset. 26.2 miles just doesn't seem that far, and the whole day I was just thinking, hopefully if I'm lucky, in the next couple years, I'll be running 4 times this far. Puts things in perspective.

Anyway, the day was great, hanging with Tall Mom and Bethany, two of the coolest bloggers I know, was a blast. We got our celebratory milkshakes after the race, some random dude on the street gave me pizza (yes, I ate pizza from a stranger), and then we all celebrated with pad thai and beer (except Bethany, who dislikes beer).

Here are some pics from the day:

Engagement Re-enactment in Hopkinton :)

Finish Line Photo (day before the race)

Post-Race Reunion

Ryan and Josh Cox (American Record Holder in the 50k, 2:43:45)

Next post, we'll recap the day that Ryan met and ran with his running idol!

My New Running Dress

2011-04-20T07:59:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone, just a quick post to let you all know we are still here and that we both had a successful and FUN run at Boston on Monday. All the pictures are on my camera and I can't get them to load right now so I'll have to wait for Ryan to help me. In the mean time, here is my new running dress! I haven't run in it yet, I just took this picture so I could share it with all of you. I can run to church now, I'll just tie a little black sweater around my waist and no one will know that I ran there. It's really comfortable so far, I will test it out in the next couple of weeks. Still waiting for that warmer weather! Have a nice day everyone!

Heading to Hopkinton!

2011-04-18T06:35:00.000-04:00

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Ryan's Goals for Boston

2011-04-10T16:39:00.000-04:00

To finish feeling good.

That's all. I've been dealing with some calf strain issues for about 3 weeks now, and I have good days and bad days. It seems to be very slowly getting better. Too slow, for my liking. I can walk pain-free, no problem, but sometimes when I pick it up to a run, it gets a little funny. It's definitely part-mental and messing with my head right now. For example, I ran 18 miles on Friday, and it felt pretty good, some tenderness, but no real pain or additional straining. Then today I just tried to run an easy couple miles, and I felt like it was real tender, so I quit after 2 miles. And then I go back to walking, and it's just fine. It's really stressing me out, and somehow I need to be running 26.2 in a week.One thing I've found is that I think it does better after a good lonnnnnng warmup. Before the 18 miles on Friday, I walked a mile, and then picked it up to running. Today, I didn't give it as much of a warmup, so I'm thinking that might have had an effect.

Has anyone dealt with a calf strain before? How did you first strain it? How long did it take to recover? How did you expedite the healing process? I've tried calf sleeves, KT tape, foam rolling, rest, ice, everything. It all seems to be helping, just slowly.

So that's my goal. I just want to finish without any major issues, no further straining of the calf. I'll take it nice and easy, probably kiss some girls at Wellesley (sorry Bethany, gotta do it :), probably pound a beer with some college kids at BC, and just take my time, and do as little damage to my body as possible.

Hope you guys all have a good week, see you in Boston soon!

Bethany's Goals for Boston

2011-04-05T16:02:00.000-04:00

Less than 2 weeks til Boston and it's time to start thinking about my goals! This training cycle has been absolute sh!t for me. Too much work and a lot of wedding stuff! Let's review some stats:

Highest weekly mileage: 36. (Yes, you are reading that correctly)
Lowest weekly mileage: 28.

The good: Two 20 milers at 8:27 pace
The bad: Working way too much! I've been working my regular M-F 9-5 and then I've been freelance interpreting 5-10 times per week before and/or after work.
The Ugly: Vitually no cross training. Low mileage. I think I ran on the Boston Marathon course 2-3 times! Jeesh, I practically live ON the course! No speed work, no tempo runs, no hill work.

Goal for Boston: A. Course PR (3:40:01 or less) B. 3:45 or less

Best Training runs:
3/5/11- 20 miles at 8:27 pace (could have easily kept this pace going for another 6.2 miles)
4/3/11- 20 miles at 8:27 pace (felt like poo. Could have kept this pace for another 1/10 mile)

Plans for Boston:
-No Garmin
-Go out easy
-Run by how I feel
-Maybe stop for a kiss at mile 13? Nah, I'm a germ freak
-Not get trampled in Corral 3 of Wave #2

Last year I ran 3:40:02 on significantly more training. Only time will tell but I'm shooting for a course PR for sure! I might be crazy but I've got nothing to lose!

Sweet heel strike. Last year at mile 25. I ran for TnT

If you are running Boston, What is your goal?? Good luck to all!

More Boston Stuff

2011-03-31T21:32:00.000-04:00

Saw this ad today and thought I'd share it with you all!
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Ta Da!!!! The Finished Product!!

2011-03-28T07:57:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was the 2-month mark until our wedding and on Friday I finally sent out the invitations. I wanted to share the invitations with you since I handmade them all and am quite proud. I made 125 and I was very stubborn and would not allow anyone to help me. I only accepted help when it came to putting stamps and labels on the envelopes.

I lined all 125 envelopes with heart paper for some added color, since I LOVE a lot of color!

This is the finished product

Not sure why I can't get this picture to rotate. I used embossing powder for the mason jar and flowers and then I added matching glitter to each flower. I will carry wildflowers and the centerpieces on the tables will be wildflowers in mason jars. I selected pink, purple and orange flowers because those are the wedding colors.

Me, my sister, my grandmother and my great Aunt Lu stuffing envelops and putting on stamps. I can't believe I forgot to take pictures of the RSVP cards!!! But if you enlarge this picture you might be able to see them.
(Sorry, Laura, not the best picture of you, I must have said something stupid)

Grr, pictures are refusing to rotate! These are the stamps I used. I'm not really into all the weddingy themed stuff, I prefer colorful things and springy things, and I love butterflies!

For the RSVP cards I hand-cut each one into a heart shape. There are 4 possible color combinations for the RSVP cards:

bright pink card with orange envelops

orange card with bright pink envelope

purple card with green envelope

green card with purple envelope

Yes, I LOVE color!!

Thanks for letting me share these with you! Have a great week!!

Boston Marathon Street Banners are HERE!!!

2011-03-23T20:45:00.001-04:00

For all my Boston Marathon people, this post if for you...check out what went up on the streets of Boston this past week...

I like the banners this year. There are 8-10 different ones, each with the flag from the runner's home country. I always get so excited once I see these banners. Last year we had green leaves and even some shade for the race. This year I doubt we will be getting as early a spring as last year so expect to see ugly brown and bare trees(as you can see in the picture below). BOO! By the way, these pictures were taken around 2pm in the afternoon, looks like a depressing white backdrop...but no...that's just winter time in New England. (It's spring, I know)

This is Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, pretty close to where we live.

Don't forget, if you need help or have a question about Boston or the race send us an email! See you all soon! ryan.couto@gmail.com

5 Things Friday

2011-03-18T07:30:00.001-04:00

1. I have been terrible about reading blogs lately, I read a few here and there but I'm really struggling to keep up. *IF YOU ARE ON TWITTER, PLEASE COMMENT AND LEAVE YOUR TWITTER NAME.* I don't even know what it's called...a twitter name?? I want to follow you on twitter so we can stay in touch because I am able to go on Twiter via my blackberry but I can't always read blogs on my blackberry. Thanks.

2. New Bedford Half Marathon coming up on Sunday, not doing this one for speed but rather pushing handicapped children in wheelchairs, should be interesting!

3. Poor Ryan hurt himself last night!!!! We were going for a run and about 5 steps into the run he stopped and hunched over in pain/discomfort. Not sure what happened :-( He seems a little better today but he is still walking funny so we don't really know how it is. He can walk but cannot push-off.

4. We signed up for Goofy's Challenge this week. It will be my 7th Goofy and Ryan's 2nd. I think we will do the 5k this year with my parents too.

5. Did you know that we are going back to Alaska in June???

Picture taken at 11:30 AT NIGHT! Anchorage, AK

Have a great day and a great weekend! Who is racing?? Good luck!

Hyannis Marathon Race Report

2011-03-10T20:24:00.001-05:00

Better late than never, right? On Sunday, February 27th Ryan and I ran the Hyannis Marathon in Hyannis MA. This was my second time running this race, I ran it back in 2006, this was Ryan's first time. Hyannis was somewhat of a marathon milestone for me as it was my 20th marathon.
I was planning on pacing a couple of women to a BQ, so my plan was to run around 3:50:00 and Ryan's plan was to run somewhere just over 4 hours. We both viewed it as a training run and since all of our friends were running we decided to join in on the fun. The weather was kinda of on the chilly side with either rain, sleet or snow. The night before we got about 2 inches of snow but then the rain came and washed it away. This course is said to be flat but in my opinion there are quite a few rolling hills. It was a double loop course with a half marathon and a 10k, so needless to say, the first loop was crowded and the second loop was quiet!!
All was going well with pacing, we ran dead even splits and the day went by really fast. It felt mile 17 popped up out of nowhere and then suddenly we were at mile 20. My legs felt really strong and everything was feeling good except for my back. My back NEVER bothers me so it was kind of strange to be happening all of a sudden. Around mile 20.5 my back started to cramp up and the discomfort began traveling along side of my ribs and towards the front. My friend that i was pacing, Wendy, was on fire and there was no doubt in my mind she would get her BQ. She even stopped at a port-a-potty for 3 minutes but we made up the time. I felt like she wanted to pick things up and that I was holding her back. Around mile 22 I realized that I was leaning forward/hunched over while I was running. Wendy decided to take off and I pulled over on the side of the road and just bent over and hung there for a minute. My back was killing me, I could barely stand up straight. Every .10-.25 mile I had to stop and bend over. It sucked. Wendy got her BQ and I finished in 3:55. As soon as I finished I laid down and put my feet in the air and my back felt better. See pictures below to see WHY my back was hurting me!!! Also, it gives the answer to yesterday's Wordless Wednesday post.
Ryan had a good race too and he met up with a friend just past the half way mark and then the two of them ran the rest of the way together. He looked really strong at the finish and didn't seem to be phased at all. We were both kind of hungry at the end but had to walk all the way back to the car to get food. Most of the post-race food had been picked over, which is sadly kind of normal after a race that offers shorter distances in addition to a marathon. While we were at the car, our friend called to say that Ryan had placed in the Clydesdale division!!!!!

Ryan and his 2 medals! Way to go, Lovie!!

Post race

And here is why my back HURT!! I spent all day Friday and Saturday hunched over like this! (I believe I have a paw-print sticker on my hand, my 2.5 year old nephew gave me a sticker for using the "potty")

Working on invitations. I made 120, not quite finished yet.

This is just the base of the invitation. I punched the flower pattern on the bottom and then I used stamps and embossing powder (you put special powder on the stamp-ink and then use a heating tool and the embossing powder hardens and becomes raised and shiny). The base of the invitation has a turquoise colored mason jar with pink, purple and orange wildflowers inside. My colors for the wedding are pink, purple and orange and our centerpieces are turquoise mason jars with multicolored wildflowers, so it ties in nicely.

Yes, you read that correctly, pink, purple and orange...wait til you see the bridesmaid dresses!

Up next: Black Cat 20 Mile Race Report. We ran a 20 mile race 1 week after the marathon. Stay tuned!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-09T07:30:00.000-05:00

Any guesses? :-)

It's That Time of Year Here in Boston!!

2011-03-05T15:12:00.000-05:00

Boston Marathon apparel is out!! Thought you non-Bostonians would appreciate this!
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Hyannis Marathon Recap

2011-03-02T21:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! Just a QUICK recap about the Hyannis Marathon Ryan and I ran on Sunday. We will post pictures and more info later. To make a long story short, the race was a success! The weather was crappy, freezing rain, snow and rain but it wasn't too cold, in the 30s.I set out to pace 2 women from my running club for their first BQ. 1 woman, Wendy, successfully got her BQ! She was amazing! She even took a pit stop for about 3 minutes but we made up the time. She was thrilled, it was fun to help her reach her goal. Ryan had a great race...I'll let him tell you more about that though...(hint, he got some hardware!)

Hyannis was a great day for me. I ran this marathon back on 2006 and it was my 3rd marathon. This past Sunday I ran it as my 20th marathon. Can't believe I hit #20 already! Time sure flies when you're having fun! :-)

Pictures and more info in the next post! We've been so bad about posting lately! We are less than 3 months away til the wedding now!

Here We Go!

2011-02-27T07:20:00.000-05:00

Time for the Hyannis Marathon! Ryan and I are both running but sadly, not together. I'm pacing a couple of women for their first BQs! Got my pace bracelet on (yes, I'm old school) and we are ready to go! I am pacing them for 3:50, I know I can run faster than that on a bad day, but still, I'm like REALLY nervous!! Ahhh!!
It snowed last night so hopefully it's not slippery on Cape Cod. Have a great day everyone!!
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You Know You're a Runner When...

2011-02-18T11:41:00.000-05:00

...Your office desk looks like this! Tempo run this morning and going on a lunch break run soon. Trying to dry things out a little before the next run! It's 60 degrees here so I can't pass up the chance to run again!
Have a nice weekend! :-)
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Love YOUrself Challenge!

2011-02-15T20:19:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone, I decided to take part in Zoe's Valentine challenge so here is a body part that I like...I guess to say I'm "proud" of it would be kinda weird...but I like this body part as a result of running...Probably the polar opposite of what most women would say, BUT...I LOVE MY CHEST! :-)

It's so convenient, super comfortable for running and sleeping on my stomach, and I can wear whatever kind of shirts/dresses I want. I can't imagine having a "bounce" there. Both my grandmothers, my aunts and cousins are all very large on the top so thank you running for keeping things small!! :-)

TMI? Sorry.

Great Minds Think Alike!

2011-02-14T09:02:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day! We have similar taste in cards, clearly!
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Priorities and Countdown to Boston

2011-02-06T16:36:00.000-05:00

With all the snow/ice we've been getting up here, it's been quite difficult to keep on track with getting in the mileage that we want each week. Luckily, we have our indoor bike trainers right in our apartment that make it SO easy to get in a hard cross-training workout. On nights where I get home late from work/school, and it's snowing and icy out, and running isn't an option and the trek to the gym isn't too enticing, it's so nice to have the opportunity to just hop on the trainer and ride for an hour or so. And we definitely get a solid workout in. 10 minutes in, sweat is pouring off of us. And all the while, we get to watch TV while working out. Some of our guilty pleasure TV shows are Teen Mom, How I Met Your Mother, and Tosh.0. Lately we've been getting in a couple episodes while riding together, and it's nice.

However, the bike trainers and our bikes do take up quite a bit of room in our small Boston apartment. So in the space that should really be our dining room, we have our bikes. :) And that's fine with us. We eat dinner on a tiny table every night. Priorities. :)

Guess which one is Miss Bethany's

Lovie bikes. Side-by-side.

Dinnertime.

(Ok, so we don't normally eat on this small table, we typically eat at a table twice this size, but we have some roof/ceiling issues in our apartment with some leaking in our bedroom due to the snow/ice up there, so we've had to move everything from our bedroom into our living room, so it's kind of a mess in there now.)

The Boston Marathon countdown has begun! Hope you guys are getting excited!

A Snow Day for Johann

2011-01-30T21:13:00.000-05:00

Here is what Boston has looked like for the last couple of weeks. I had 4 snow days in January! I took these pictures on Thursday, 1/27/11, wanted to share them with all of you but especially Johann. Today Ryan and I got his Explorer stuck in my parents' driveway, took about 45 minutes to get it out. 5 people (including my South-African brother-in-law who got a mouthful of snow from the back tire, oops, sorry Peter), 4 shovels and salt and sand and we finally got it out of the driveway, BUT we missed our morning run with friends :-(

Our Street, luckily, the management company does a good job clearing the sidewalks.

This car isn't going anywhere for awhile...

Snow covered cars.

Street still hasn't been plowed. Don't think one could fit down, too much snow already built up on side of road. It's a one way street.

Snow mounds are up to my shoulders (and much higher in places like parking lots)

I cannot wait to see GREEN!!! That is what I most look forward to, seeing green grass and green leaves!

Goodnight

Three Things Thursday

2011-01-27T07:25:00.001-05:00

1. SNOW DAY! No work for me (Bethany) today. This is my 4th snow day this month, it's really helping my swimming though! I'll be heading to the gym soon (I walk there) to swim, do a short tempo run on the treadmill and then lift.

2. Hard to explain but I've been feeling like such a slacker lately!! By "lately" I mean since October 18th! On October 17th I ran the Baystate Marathon (3:34:??) and I feel like that was my last hard-effort workout. The last time I ran fast was a 5 miler on Thanksgiving! I just feel like I haven't been working out as much or as hard lately. It's hard to explain, yes, I ran a 50 miler in November, and yes, I just did Goofy's Challenge but I just feel like I'm in dire need of a really hard workout, I'm feeling a bit out of shape. I'm pacing a group of friends in February for a 3:50 at the Hyannis Marathon so that should feel good. Once this snow melts I'll start doing hills and I'd love to get to the track, but it's covered in snow.

3. Do you know what 4 months from today is??????? OUR WEDDING! Still no bridesmaid dresses lol, I really need to get on this planning stuff...

Happy Thursday to everyone!!! Stay safe my New England friends!

Date Night

2011-01-22T18:05:00.004-05:00

Just a quick post today. We went on a nice run this morning through a snow-covered bike path. Just a short, quick 45 minute run. Tonight we're going on a date (with some friends too). We're going to dinner and a concert: Sister Hazel. I (Ryan) am ridiculously excited for this. I have always loved Sister Hazel.

Tomorrow we'll probably have a lazy morning and then run 7-8 miles or so, hopefully on some roads that don't have much ice. Hope you guys all have a great weekend!

2011 Goals

2011-01-17T21:12:00.000-05:00

Since we've been busy with holidays and then our Disney vaca, we haven't gotten a chance to put together our 2011 goals post, so here it is!

Ryan's Goals:

1. Run injury-free all year: This means that I really need to continue to focus on my core, stretching, and yoga. Being prone to IT-band issues, I need to make rolling, stretching, and occasional massage a part of my running routine.

2. Complete a 50 miler: This is a pretty simple one. I really would like to do the StoneCat 50 miler in November, or maybe the Vermont 50. Who knows, we shall see.

3. Complete at least two 50kms: Another pretty simple one. Pineland Farms 50km is one for sure. I'm sure I'll be able to find a second one. There's quite a few around here.

4. Go for more long bike rides this summer: Miss Bethany bought me an awesome bike helmet for Christmas, and I want to put it to good use this spring/summer.

5. Complete another 2 of my graduate courses, so that I will be 1/2 of the way to my Master's degree in Structural Engineering: :-)

6. Be a good husband: :-) (but I still have 4 months before I have to worry about this one)

Other Bonus Goals/Thoughts: I don't really have any major goals of setting PRs this year. If it happens, it happens, but I just haven't set up my 2011 race schedule in such a way that PRs are a major goal. I'd love to hit a 3:50 marathon at some point, but if it doesn't happen, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Running healthy all year, and focusing on my long-distance trail races are my priorities.

Miss Bethany's Goals:

1. Continue my injury-free streak.

2. Complete my second 50 miler: (this time with Ryan)

3. Go for more long bike rides this summer: (60+ miles)

4. More lifting: (especially lower body)

5. Drop a couple pounds: (so I can run faster)

6. Read a total of 15 books this year: Expanding on my 2010 goal of one book per month.

7. Continue to try to floss more often.

8. Be a good wife: :-) (but I still have 4 months before I have to worry about this one)

9. Take and pass my National Interpreter Certification Test.

That's all for us, what are your goals for the year?! Have a great week, everyone!

Goofy's Challenge Race Report

2011-01-12T20:43:00.001-05:00

Over the weekend, as you guys know, we went down to Walt Disney World to run Goofy's Challenge (half-marathon on Saturday, full-marathon on Sunday, for those of you not familiar). This was Miss Bethany's 6th time doing Goofy's Challenge (and therefore considered "Perfectly Goofy," because this is only the 6th time of Disney offering the 'Goofy's Challenge'), and it was my first Goofy's Challenge. I've done the half-marathon 3 times: 2007, 2008, 2009, and last year I just did the full-marathon. This year I decided to step it up and do Goofy's Challenge.

Half-Marathon:

We ran the half separately, and Miss Bethany just cruised along to a 1:50:40, easy beans for her. I went into the weekend very concerned about my IT band. It had been bothering me off and on since Stonecat, and I did a lot of my long runs on trails to kind of baby it, so I was a little nervous about how it would respond to 40 miles of road this weekend. I have a wonderful friend/massage therapist who has been helping me to fix my IT band issues, and I've been rolling/stretching/doing all the right things for it, but I was still nervous. I started the half very conservatively, at a slow and easy pace. As the miles went by, I felt better and better, no pain at all in the IT, so I picked up the pace a little. (Come to find out it was a little too much, as I was sore the next day for the full.) But long story short, I felt great after the half, and finished in 2:00:15, with no pain at all. What a great feeling, I was confident going into Sunday's full.

Full-Marathon:

We ran the full marathon together and, of course, had a blast. We started out nice and easy, around 9:40 pace, and I felt good . . . until I hit the dreaded wall, AT MILE 2. My legs just felt tired and sore, and it felt like they were asking me, 'You idiot, why did you run 13.1 miles yesterday, and why are you running 26.2 today?' So we took the pace down a bit, and Miss Bethany led me through the rest of the way. We ended up finishing in 4:32:29. I'm pretty happy with that, considering it was my first Goofy, and how sore I was already at mile 2. Also, it was great ultra training to run 20+ miles on sore legs :). We had an absolute blast. There was tons of crowd support, lots of characters along the way. Lots of music, bands, cheerleaders, etc. Just 26.2 miles of fun. We loved it. This is our favorite marathon, and we'll definitely be back next year. We're even thinking of trying to squeeze in a fall trip here for the Wine and Dine 1/2 Marathon.

Here are some pics from the trip:

With Daisy after the 1/2 Marathon

Clarabelle Cow after the 1/2 Marathon

With our friends Lindsey and Cindy after the 1/2 Marathon

After the Full Marathon. Also, after Miss Bethany hand-fed me four muffins. Can you tell I felt like I got hit by a truck?

I felt much better after I got my Goofy hat and a beer.

Happily displaying our Goofy medals. Miss Bethany's lanyard was orange because she is Perfectly Goofy.

Celebrating at Epcot

Celebrating with a Radeberger Pilsner in Epcot Germany.

With Mickey at Epcot (notice our matching shirts, we wore matching shirts four days in a row, we're cool like that)

With Pluto at Epcot

Finally, with Goofy at Epcot, celebrating our successful completion of Goofy's Challenge

Disney - Goofy's Challenge! (PICS)

2011-01-09T14:32:00.000-05:00

On the way to our hotel! EXCITED for Disney!!!!

Miss Bethany and her two friends after the half-marathon yesterday! Lindsey's FIRST half, and a huuuuge PR for Cindy. What a great job they did! So proud for them! Miss Bethany did an easy 1:50, and I STUPIDLY ran 2:00. MUCH too fast, considering I had to run a marathon today.

After suffering through the marathon today in 4:32:29, I am proudly wearing my Goofy hat :) It was brutal. The effects of yesterday's half marathon caught up to me. I've never hit the wall at MILE 2 before, until today. Boy, was I sore the whole day today. Good 50 miler training :) Luckily, I had Miss Bethany to pull me through. She amazingly kept me running strong enough to have a respectable finish! So proud, and so lucky to have her. I just wish I had HALF of her endurance. She is amazing!

Day 1 of Goofy Challenge

2011-01-08T20:24:00.001-05:00

Day 1 of Goofy Challenge complete. Both feel good. Miss Bethany did 1:50:40 and Ryan did 2:00:15. . . Marathon in the morning :)

2011-01-06T18:15:00.001-05:00

We're in Disney! Yippeeeee!

First Run of 2011!

2011-01-01T10:57:00.000-05:00

Ok, this email thing is addicting! It's just SOOO easy to update the blog now!!!!
Heading out for our first run of 2011. It is sunny out and temps are in the upper 40s! The weather is looking great for Disney next weekend! Can't wait! Heading out for 13 miles now, happy new year to all!!!!!!!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Happy New Year!!

2011-01-01T01:14:00.000-05:00

Happy new year everyone!! We just added an email address to our blog so we can post pictures instantly from our phones. Here is our first try. Let's see if this works!!!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Revisiting Our 2010 Goals!

2010-12-29T19:42:00.007-05:00

Well, another year has come and gone! Let's see how well we did with our goals from 2010...
Ryan's original goals for 2010:
1.) Work on my core. COMPLETED
2.) Run at least 4 marathons.COMPLETED Ran 6 marathons and 1 ultra.
3.) Start my master's degree. COMPLETED
4.) Eat more fruits and veggies. COMPLETED (Miss Bethany packs them in his lunch, can't go wrong on this one!)
5.) Set new PRs in the 5k, 10k and half marathon distances. NOPE. Got a PR in a 7 mile race and a new marathon PR.

Bethany's original goals for 2010:
1.) Run the StoneCat 50 Mile Trail Race in November. COMPLETED
2.) Have a new marathon PR (3:25?) NOPE 3:34:50 was my fastest marathon this year, no PR
3.) Break 5:20 in a Half-Ironman NOPE, didn't even get to do a HIM this year :'-(
4.) Floss More (not going so well) COMPLETED
5.) Read at least one book per month (so far on book #3) COMPLETED On book #13!
6.) Maybe lose a couple pounds this summer NOPE

We've enjoyed reading all your posts about your goals for 2011 and also all that you've accomplished in 2010! Congratulations to you all and good luck in 2011 on your new goals! Can you believe it's the start of a new decade!?

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

We are looking forward to meeting many of you at Disney, Boston, San Diego and Mount Desert Island marathons in 2011!

We'll post our 2011 goals soon!

Our Last Unmarried Christmas

2010-12-26T19:20:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!!! Hope you all had a great day, and we hope Santa was as good to you as he was to us! We both went on a nice Christmas Eve trail run for 1.5 hrs with our friends, and then Miss Bethany also went on her annual Christmas morning run. There's a blustery blizzard going on outside, so we've hunkered down with a couple cups of candy cane green tea and we've been relaxing, waiting out the storm. We were hoping to get in a 2+ hr run this morning, but the blizzard made things a little interesting and messed up our plans. We ended up taking an early train back to Boston from our parents' homes, and then once we got back to Boston, we ran for a snowy/cold/windy hour. Oh well, it felt good to get out there for a bit anyways.

Well, in the meantime while we're snowed in, we'll share some of our Christmas pics with you:

Ryan in his Christmas sweater with Ginger the Reindeer-dog

Ryan ("Ryry") and Robby ("Bobby ")

Bethany's Dad with Robby and Joshua

Miss Bethany's favorite Christmas ornament

In front of Ryan's parents' Christmas tree

The view from our front window

Do you know what tomorrow is? . . . . 5 months til our wedding!

You're All Invited . . .

2010-12-20T22:04:00.000-05:00

You are cordially invited to celebrate

the wedding of

Bethany Bertrand

and

Ryan Couto

on Sunday morning

May the 29^th

at 8 o’clock

Pineland Farms Trail Running Festival

(50 mi, 50 km, or 25 km)

New Gloucester, ME

Planning your spring race schedule? Looking to run your first ultra? Consider running with us! Just two days after our wedding, it will be our first ultra as husband and wife! We already have a bunch of running friends going, and we'd love some more! We did this race last year, and it is AWESOME, which is why we're doing it again just two days after our wedding.

I've Been Tagged

2010-12-17T07:11:00.000-05:00

I've been tagged by Stacie to answer the following questions. Thanks, Stacie!!

1. What was your toughest race? I'm sure you all expect me to say my 50 miler, or some marathon, but my toughest race was actually a local 5 miler I ran on July 4th 2009. It was my 12th time running this race and it was in my hometown; I've run this course literally hundreds of times. I had just started "Clean Eating" earlier in the week and I wasn't eating enough because I was still learning what I could eat. My goal for the race was 34:59. At mile 3 I had nothing left. That was the first time I ever felt like that. I wanted to quit so badly or start walking. Mentally I wasn't into it, physically I was hurting, and having tons of people speed past me didn't help either. It was probably the most miserable I've ever felt while running. Good thing it was only 5 miles. I ended up with 37:30, still a great time, not sure how I pulled that off.

2. What are your goals for 2011? Well, as you all know, Ryan and I are getting married (finally) in May. Currently for 2011, Ryan and I are signed up for 5 marathons, Disney, Hyannis, Boston, RNR San Diego, and Desert Island Marathon. We are also planning on doing a 50 km in May and we both hope to run the Stone Cat 50 miler in November (same one i did this year). I really want to do another 70.3, but with the wedding and honeymoon, I don't see it happening. I would like to focus on riding my bike more. In July, i have plans on volunteering at Ironman Lake Placid and then hopfully being able to sign up for 2012 IM Lake Placid. I'd like to work on speed too, I'm overdue for some PRs.

3.If you could live anywhere, where would it be? Here. I would never want to live anywhere else. All my family is here and I like the weather in MA. If i could though, I would love to spend the summers in Alaska. I love Alaska so much and I think about it at least once every 5 minutes. My heart aches when I look at pictures, I just want to go back so badly. But i wouldn't want to live there year round because I'm not that tough.

4. What is my guilty pleasure TV show? Hannah Montanna. Don't judge. I don't watch it very often though. The only TV show I watch is The Biggest Loser, I've been watching it since season 1.

5. How do you keep a sense of balance? hmm, not sure how but i always feel like I'm balanced. I'm very disciplined and efficient and I always get done what I need to get done. i wake up early and go non-stop until bedtime but that's what I like to do so it's doesn't stress me out or anything. I get a lot done in a day and I always find way to squeeze things in. I guess by not wasting anytime I get everything done. Obviously running makes me feel balanced. I started running in 1998 and don't want to imagine my life without it! I don't know my adult life without running (I was 12 when i started) so I'm not sure how I'd be without it, and i don't want to find out anytime soon.

Thanks for the fun, Stacie! I tag Ryan :-)

Christmas Parties, Marriage Prep, and Long Run

2010-12-12T21:15:00.000-05:00

We had another busy weekend this weekend, and are just having some time now to go back and recap and blog. It was a fun weekend filled with good runs, the office Christmas party, and our required marriage prep class at a local Church.

Friday night, we got home from work, went for a nice cold run along the Charles River, and there was NO other runners to be found. All the fair-weather runners have gone into hibernation for the winter :) It's such a drastic change from the summer, when you can't run two steps without seeing another runner. We finished our run at a local burrito place for a quick little dinner date, and then we did groceries. Of course, us being the Christmas-lovers that we are, we bought a bunch of Christmas goodies such as egg nog and candy cane tea :)

Miss Bethany with a clean Christmas cupcake and our Christmas tree

Close-up of the Christmas cupcake (from Whole Foods)

Saturday we had a very busy day. Knowing it was going to be a long day without the chance to get a workout in, we went for a half-hour morning walk to the Church where our Wedding Prep class was being held. The class was full of about 30 or so couples, and we did all kinds of activities such as 'how well do you know your future spouse,' things like that. It was pretty fun, although it was a long day, and lasted from 9-5.

Right after the Wedding Prep class, we had to rush back to our apartment and get ready for my office Christmas party. It was at a fancy hotel on South Boston's waterfront, and we had a lot of fun with my colleagues. There was great food, good friends, and fun times on the dancefloor. The food was delicious, and was good fuel for our long run this morning :)

Bethany and I with Ryan (my co-worker and one of my groomsmen) and his girlfriend Sarah

Kissy-pic on the Viaduct Bridge near the hotel (Note: Co-worker Ryan and I worked on the structural repairs of this bridge, right next to the hotel where the party was at)

Co-worker/Groomsman Ryan and I

This morning, I slept in a little while Miss Bethany went out to start her long run (b/c she had to catch a train to go visit her friend in NH, we wouldn't be able to do our whole long run together). So she swung back by the apt after 8 miles and picked me up, and we ran another 7 miles together. After our 7 miles together, she came back to the apartment and showered and headed to the train, while I finished up my run for a total of 14.5 miles. I've been having a little IT band discomfort, so I've started using KT Tape, and I really think it has helped me. It was miserable weather, with lots of wind and rain, but we were able to get a solid run in, so we were both happy with that.

Have a good week, everyone!

Downtown Providence Jingle 5k

2010-12-05T20:24:00.000-05:00

Today my Mom and I ran the Downtown Providence Jingle 5k, and we had a blast! On the way to the race, we hit some plywood (w/ nails in it of course), and got a flat tire. Luckily my dad and I were able to fix it and get to the race with time to spare! We got to the race, I ran in and picked up our numbers and shirts (which were awesome!), and listened to some Christmas tunes, played on the sax by none other than Matty B, the local musician who will be playing at our wedding! :)

Everyone was out in their elf, reindeer, santa, or other festive costumes, and Santa fired the start gun. The race took us through the streets of Downtown Providence (where I used to call home. Oh, how I miss Brown!) My mom was running strong the first mile (10:06), but I was a little concerned that we were going out too hot. The second mile came in (10:04), and she was still going strong, so I kind of pushed her for a strong finish, and our last mile (9:59) was our fastest. We ended up doing 31:03, which is about a minute and a half faster than her previous best, which was 2 years ago. I was so proud of her, and she was so happy! It was a great day. We got a great picture in front a Christmas tree after the race.

After the race, we got to chat with Matty B, and he is pumped to rock the reception for us, haha! He seems like a really nice guy, and he puts on a really good show. We're all looking forward to the big day.

Well anyway, here is the pic of us, hope you all had a great weekend!

Who wants to Run a Marathon on Cape Cod in the Dead of Winter?

2010-11-29T21:40:00.000-05:00

I DO. And Miss Bethany is getting dragged along, as she is my personal pacer. We just signed up today to do the Hyannis Marathon on February 27th.

The appeal for me is that:

(1.) There is a Clydesdale division, so I can go battle it out and race against the heavyweights. :)

(2.) Also, I LOVE running in cold weather. If we're lucky, maybe it'll even snow.

(3.) It's a double-loop course, and I love loop courses.

Miss Bethany did the marathon in 2006, and she says it was cold and boring. But she's in a far different place now, with 17 more marathons under her belt. And she'll be running with ME, so how could she not be excited?!

One of my good friends from work is coming down to do the 10k there, and we have a number of other running friends doing either the half or full marathon, so it'll be another running weekend filled with good friends and good times.

A MUST-Add to Your Holiday Wish List! (Possibly the Best Book I've Ever Read!)

2010-11-24T13:22:00.000-05:00

I (Bethany) finished reading this book a few weeks ago and I LOVED it. It was a quick read because I was SO into it, I had to keep reading!! I laughed out load a lot and I cried a lot too, not always in a bad way though, but I did have to get up and blow my nose a few times. I don't think I have 1 bad thing to say about this book! It was awesome!! Quite possibly the best book I have ever read! (I think I would rank it higher than Harry Potter and The Twilight Saga on my list of favorite books! *gasp*)

The Long Run, by Matt Long

I know most of you have already heard of Matt Long through articles published in Runner's World. This book goes much more into detail about his life, accident and comeback. There is so much that Runner's World did not include, it's DEFINITELY worth buying the book!!! Incase you don't know about him, here is a quick recap...
Matt was a New York City firefighter who was hit and run over by a 40,000 pound bus while riding his bike in NYC (during the transit strike). When the bus ran him over, the seat post of his bike went through his body. He was given a less than 1% chacne of survival and in two days was given 69 units of blood. He nearly bled to death but doctors say he survived because of his marathon running and triathlons, basically, his body was tough enough to withstand and survive such trauma. The book goes into detail about his family/friends, qualifying for Boston, his receovery, competing in Lake Placid Ironman before and after his accident, September 11th when he was at the World Trade Center, nutrition etc.

I hope you like this book as much as I did!!

What's your favorite sports-related book??

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Ryan's StoneCat 26.2 Report

2010-11-16T22:09:00.001-05:00

Sorry this race report is a little late, I've just been a bit busy with work and school and all. StoneCat was certainly one of the most fun races I've done this year. As you guys already know, Miss Bethany ran her first 50 miler, which was awesome. She totally inspired me to do a 50 next year. A few of our other track club friends ran either the 26.2 or the 50 as well.

The race had a 6:15am start time, so we got there bright and early. We got our headlamps strapped on and headed into the woods. I don't wear my glasses when I'm trail running, for the simple reason that I don't want to break them when I undoubtedly fall numerous times. So with it being pitch black except for the light of our headlamps, I had a bit of trouble staying upright and on the right course for the first 45 minutes or so, until the sun came out. I was very tentative weaving in and out of the trees and rocks until the sun came out, and I felt I could open it up a bit and run a little harder.

Here's the photo of the starting line before we headed into the woods. (Photo by Keith Magnus, http://www.broadreachphoto.com/)

Once the sun came out, I picked up the pace, and really felt good on the trails. I really liked these trails, as they weren't very technical, and pretty run-able for the most part. Some roots, some rocks, some water crossings, weaving in and out of trees, but overall a really good trail for a marathon. The course was a 1.2 mile loop, and then 2 times on a 12.5 mile loop. I felt pretty good the whole way, and finished in 4:50:56, about 10 minutes faster than I expected. The whole time I was just thinking about doing the 50 next year. As soon as you cross the finish line, you get a finisher's jacket, which was nice as it was something different than the usual medal or whatever. (However, Bethany's 50 mile finisher jacket was about 100 times nicer than the 26.2 finisher jacket. As it should be, though. Haha, more inspiration for doing the 50 next year.)

I think this is around mile 13.5. (Photo by Keith Magnus)

Bethany around mile 13.5, all smiles as usual. (Photo by Keith Magnus) It was nice, since it was a loop course, I got to catch up to and pass Bethany around mile 6 or so. She looked great and was happily chatting with our friends that she was running with.

Bethany with our track club friends, Mark Kruger and Kenny Rogers. (Photo by Keith Magnus) All 3 finished the 50 looking strong. They've definitely all inspired me to step up my game.

After I finished, I hung around with our track club friends who ran the 26.2, and we waited for our 50 miler buddies to come in. When Bethany came in after her 3rd loop (mile 37.5), I was waiting to help her out in any way I could. She felt hotspots developing, so I grabbed the Vaseline and lubed up her feet. (That's true love.) Then (after wiping my hands, of course) I grabbed a bag of her all-natural cookies, her cranberry juice, and her organic toaster pastry and ran back into the woods with her, making sure she got everything she needed into her pockets or into her mouth. Sure enough, she stayed well nourished, and even finished the race with cookie crumbs on her face, haha.

She looked great when she came back around to the finish line at the end of 50 miles, and I couldn't have been prouder of her. She's truly an inspiration. Hopefully next year we'll be crossing the 50 miler finish line together.

Our Halloween Pics (Races in Costumes!)

2010-11-11T21:31:00.000-05:00

A little late, but we figured you guys would still wanna see our Halloween pics! As always, we had to have couple-themed costumes, and Miss Bethany got a little creative this year.

On the Friday before Halloween, we ran a 1-mile race around Boston Common. It was a lot of fun, and a number of our Team Racemenu friends also ran, so we got to hang out with them. After the race, there was a Halloween party at one of the bars downtown (with good free beer!). We did the mile in about 8 minutes, which Miss Bethany was very pleased with, considering her costume. :)

On Halloween, Miss Bethany ran a 10k (in costume, of course), and Ryan volunteered out on the 5k course (in costume, of course). (There was both a 5k and 10k.) She was hoping for 8-8:15 pace, but somehow ended up running 7:35 min/mile pace. She started off slow not sure how the costume would hold up but then began picking people off. She got 2nd in her age group.

Here's some pics from our Halloween:

Monster Dash & Bash 1-miler. Miss Bethany made her costume from scratch the night before, cost less than $15.

Miss Bethany's "Trick or Treat" jack-o-lantern

Our nephew, Robby. (2 yrs and 5 mo.)

Popeye, Spinach, and a Dragon

Popeye and his beloved dog, Ginger

Here comes the Organic Spinach bag! Remember: eat 5-6 servings a day!

It was really hard to run because of where the armholes were, not to mention the heat of running in a plastic bag!

Popeye on baby-duty. Our other nephew, Josh. (2 months)

Stay tuned for Ryan's race report from his trail marathon last Saturday.

My First 50 Miler!! Race Report (and 100th post!)

2010-11-09T07:16:00.001-05:00

I completed my first ever 50 miler this past Saturday, November 6th. It was fun, I would definitely do it again!! I'm going to do this race report a bit different than usual. First off, the race was the Stonecat Trail Race in Ipswich, MA. The 50 miles took much longer than I thought it would, I figured it would take about 10 hours but I did it in 10:53:00. I'm not a great trail runner so I definitely lost a lot of time due to poor trail technique!!

THE GOOD:
- The weather was great! I wore the same outfit all day long, just changed my socks once because they were soaked(had to run through water 8 times)
- I can't even tel you how fast the day went by. It was by far the fastest day of my life. The first 3 loops flew by and then all of a sudden I was on the 4th and final loop.
- I liked the course, it was a 12.5 mile loop 4 times.
- Mentally running 50 miles was EASY. That's right, I said easy. Mentally, not physically :-)
- Ryan was a great supporter, he ran the marathon so I got to see him a few times during his run and then I saw him at mile 37.5(end of 3rd loop) and then at the finish.
-At mile 37.5 Ryan put Vaseline on the bottom on my right foot, awww.
- I rant he whole way with my friend Ken, who was running his 7th 50 miler. I also ran part of the way with my friend Mark (from Biggest Loser season 5) he did amazingly well! (watch The Biggest Loser special the night before Thanksgiving to find out...)
- All 50 miler finishers got embroided fleece finisher jackets!! Very nice! And we got tech shirts too, and all the food we could possible eat! I only paid $65 to run! What a bargain!!
- I felt really strong running and I was able to pick up the pace from miler 45-50. I was really pleased with my endurance.
_ i did a good job with nutrition and hydrating. Actually, I probably drank too much bc i peed 5 times!
-I slept 8 hours the night before.
-The race organizers, volunteers and fellow runners were all AWESOME!!!

THE NOT SO GOOD:
-I'm NOT a good trail runner!! Although most trail runners would say this course was easy, I definitely struggled through all the loose rocks, roots and wet leaves.
- The trail was covered with leaves so we could not see what was under the leaves.
- We had to run through (freezing cold) water (about 7" deep) 4 times and then there was another wet spot later on in the loop but it wasn't nearly as bad.
- My feet were soggy, I could feel my wet socks pulling on my toenails, lifting them up.
- As usual, I rolled/twisted my ankles at least 2 times per mile. My ankles are VERY flexible so when I twist/roll them, I'm still able to keep on going, it doesn't usually hurt til the next day.
-The back of my left knee bothered my after about mile 32. That has never happened before but it quickly went away once I stopped.
-We started in the dark and had to wear headlamps, mine was obviously too tight because my forehead is still sore to the touch!
-My time wasn't bad, and it was my first 50 so I'm definitely NOT complaining, but it is a little frustrating because I know I lost at least 1 hour due to bad trail technique.
- My feet and ankles HURT
- My muscles weren't too sore after wards, it was more joint/tendon discomfort from 10 hours and 53 minutes of rolling and twisting. Everyone always says how painful running on the roads is. Running on the roads is NOT painful AT ALL to me, running on trails is painful to me!! I'm like polar opposite of everyone else but I'd much rather run 50 miles on roads! It would have hurt a lot less!!

I really did enjoy the 50 miles! I will definitely run 50 again! Ryan wants to do the 50 next year so we will most likely run it together. Here are some pictures from the day:

About 20 minutes before the race.

Mile 37.5, end of the 3rd loop. Apparently I don't like whatever I'm drinking.

My soggy feet at mile 37.5. I was getting a blister so Ryan put some Vaseline on the spot while I changed my socks.

Coming into the finish. That is my friend Kenny, he always does this thing where he pretends to block the person he is running with. I ended up beating him tho, by like 1 second.

More pictures to come once they are posted by the race people. Ryan will write his race report soon. Thanks for all your support.

woohoo, 100th post!

Trail Running in Our Neck of the Woods (PHOTOS)

2010-11-01T20:26:00.000-04:00

This Saturday, we went for a nice run with some friends on our trails. We are so lucky to have trails like this is our area, they go on for miles and miles, and are especially beautiful this time of year with all the foliage. We decided to bring a camera because it's so nice out there! Check out the photos below:

Last week, we had a group of about 17 runners on the trails.

Stay tuned for our Halloween pics later in the week!

I Solved My "Burning Feet" Issue! (I Think)

2010-10-27T20:49:00.002-04:00

If you read my race report from either The Boston Marathon 2010, or the Baystate Marathon (on 10/17), then you will remember I had BURNING feet for both races. Aside from these 2 times, my feet have NEVER burned before, figures, it has to happen during a marathon, right?

Anyway, I was thinking about a barefoot 5k that I had run back in May and that's when I solved the burning feet issue, I think. In May, I ran a barefoot 5k through the woods of Maine, over sticks, rocks, grass, twigs pine needles etc., It was only my 3rd time running barefoot, EVER. The race began and I was surprised by how much it did NOT hurt, when the race was over, everyone was talking about how painful it was, how rough the ground in the woods had been etc. I didn't think it was painful AT ALL, there were men who had been running barefoot for years who thought it hurt...

Me and my friend, Kenny, "synchronized running."

Have you ever touched the bottom of a dog's paw?? If so, you know what the balls of my feet feel like!! I have callus buildup on the bottom of both my feet . No wonder I could sprint barefoot through the woods with ease, my feet are hard as an animals! OOPS! Aside from those 2 races, my feet have NEVER bothered me before.

Now I have a callus stone (in pink, of course)! It's fun! And tickles a little

I tried to take a picture of my feet but there is nothing to see really, my feet feel hard if I poke them, but they look smooth and soft. Hmm, weird. Okay, now back to scrubbing ;-)

Race Report: Baystate Marathon

2010-10-21T21:34:00.000-04:00

As you guys already know, we ran the Baystate Marathon in Lowell, MA on last Sunday, October 17th. We've finally found the time to sit down and blog it out. We'll do our usual his/hers race reports, as we ran this marathon solo. :)

Ryan:

This was only my second solo-marathon (without Miss Bethany pacing me), so I didn't really know what to expect. In my last solo-marathon, I struggled to a 4:07, so I was certainly hoping to beat that at Baystate. My A++++++ goal was and always has been to go sub-3:50, my A goal was 3:55, and my B goal was 4:00, and my C goal was 4:07. I wasn't fully sure how the race would go, so I started out at a conservative 9:15 pace for the first 3 miles, kinda just going with the flow until the crowd thinned out and the half-marathoners (who started with us marathoners) branched off. Around mile 3-4, I started dropping the pace down until I hit my average pace of about 8:45 min/mile. Once I hit this average pace, I hung here for a while, feeling really comfortable. I figured it felt good and it still kept me within striking distance of that 3:50 if I decided I felt really good in the second half. I hung at 8:45 min/mile for a while as we finished the first of the two-loop course, and I still felt strong holding this pace around mile 17 or so. From miles 17-22, I started to slow up a bit, and saw my average pace slow to about overall average 8:50 pace. I knew the 3:50 would be a bit out of reach, but I knew I was certainly going to come in under 4 hours. Despite a slowly increasing average pace, I still felt pretty solid finishing the second loop of the course as I headed for the basebdall stadium finish. I made my way into the stadium and crossed the finish line in a time of 3:58:34, Garmin read 26.32 miles, overall average pace 9:03. So I had slowed a bit in the last 10k or so, but it was nothing like the real slow-downs that I had in past marathons. I feel like the ultra-running and the few marathons and trail races that I did this summer have helped with the endurance a bit. I feel like I'm building up that base to the point where I can comfortably run 26.2 without much trouble. Now if I could only get a bit of Miss Bethany's speed.

I felt pretty good after I finished, with minimal soreness, and just a blood blister on the inside of my foot. I was very satisfied with my time, considering that my previous best solo-marathon was 4:07. One thing that this race showed me was how much having Miss Bethany pace me really helps. It seemed so much easier in Disney 2010 with her keeping me on pace, and keeping me going. It wasn't as easy trying to keep myself on pace and going strong.

So up next is the StoneCat Trail Marathon on Nov 6th. That's probably one of the races I'm looking forward to the most. Miss Bethany's first 50 miler!

Miss Bethany:

My goal going into this race was to PR, so I was looking for about a 3:28. As soon as the race started my breathing felt a little labored and, of course, my feet were frozen. Thankfully toes thawed by about mile 3 as I was getting into my rhythm. I definitely wanted to be conservative for the first 13 miles so i stayed right on 8:08 pace until mile 10. After mile 10 I started picking it just a bit and was on 7:57 average pace by mile 15. Around mile 13 the bottoms of my feet started burning, just like they did in Boston this year. The burning was uncomfortable but not unbearable. I felt really strong and powerful the entire race but around mile 21 my feet became unbearable. It felt like someone was peeling the skin off the rough part of my feet, it really hurt! I thought for sure that I was going to have huge blisters on the balls of my feet, which worried me since my 50 miler was 3 weeks away. At mile 21, I decided to take a 30 second walk break. From this point on I walked for 30-45 seconds every half mile. I obviously lost time walking, but when I started running again I was able to get right back on pace. My legs felt really strong and I didn't even feel tired. It was frustrating that I kept walking but I knew it was for the best. I finished in 3:34:54 and according to my Garmin I ran 26.31 miles. I was really pleased with the .31 as I was trying not to weave. My feet were on FIRE when I finished and I was afraid to take my shoes off because I knew I was going to see nasty blisters...but there was NOTHING, not even a hot spot, no red, nothing. hmm, weird. The bottom of my right foot still hurts.

I was really pleased with my race and my time. It wasn't the PR I was hoping for but I don't care, I'm very happy. (But seriously, how did I run 6 minutes FASTER on this course last year??) Looking back on the race, I realized that all I ate was a couple shot blocks and a few honey stingers, no GUs and no Gatorade, just water. My legs felt great after, a little soreness the next day but nothing major, all soreness is long gone now and I'm ready for the 50 (I think?)!

Pre-race, waiting inside the arena

Ryan at the finish!

Post race

****After the finish, Ryan said a woman recognized him from the blog, but he forgot to ask who she was!...If it was you, please let us know!!!!****

We Picked and Signed Up For Our 2011 Fall Road Marathon!

2010-10-18T21:49:00.000-04:00

And it is . . . . . . .

Mount Desert Island, Bar Harbor, Maine!

Continually ranked as one of (if not THE) most scenic marathon courses in North America, it runs all along Mount Desert Island in Acadia National Park.

You may have read about it in a recent Runner's World where it was chosen Most Scenic and 2nd Best Overall Marathon:

We are SO excited! We love picking out our races in advance, because we always have something to look forward to!

Baystate Marathon Results

2010-10-17T20:27:00.000-04:00

Miss Bethany: 3:34:54

Ryan: 3:58:34

Second fastest time for both of us. We're both very pleased. Full recap to come tomorrow!

BAA Half Marathon and Tufts 10k for Women

2010-10-14T21:46:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, we both raced one last time before our goal race this weekend: Baystate Marathon. I ran the BAA Half Marathon on Sunday and Miss Bethany ran the Tufts 10k for Women on Monday. We both kinda just went out at our cruising pace and just enjoyed it.

The BAA Half is a nice course along Boston's Emerald Necklace in Jamaica Plain. It's a hilly and scenic course, and it's pretty fun. I've done it for the past three years. It's also very popular, and it sold out in about 2 hours this year. I went out at a nice pace that felt comfortable, and ended up easily cruising along at 8:24 pace the whole race. Miss Bethany was out on the course cheering me on, and I saw her on 4 different occasions. It was fun to see her cheering me on, for once. :)

Pre-race.

Cruising along around mile 8.

Cruising again, around mile 12.

Miss Bethany ran in the Tufts 10k for Women on Monday, and every year she runs it with a newbie runner or someone who's trying to lose weight or never run a race before, but this year her person bailed on her! So she ended up running the race solo. Her goal was to just run easy at 8 min/mile pace, not pushing too hard, just enjoying the race, and the camaraderie with her fellow women. You go girls! Joan Benoit Samuelson runs it every year and stays at the end to high-five all the ladies coming in. This year, even after running a 2:47 in Chicago the day before, she still flew to Boston and ran the 10k in 40:29 (6:31 pace). Miss Bethany high-fived her at the finish and congratulated her on her great time in Chicago. Miss Bethany finished in a 49:14 (avg pace of 7:56), not bad considering her first mile was 9:30 b/c of the congestion of the 8,000 women or so on the crowded Boston streets.

Always smiling. I got out of work and watched from the corner near Boston Common.

Team RaceMenu/mix1 Ladies. Bethany couldn't wait to email Tall Mom a picture of her bib number. As you all know, 333 is her favorite number.

So that's that. You will certainly be hearing from us either Sunday or Monday, after our Baystate Marathon this weekend. We're both really excited and hoping for new PRs. Only time will tell. We've put in the training and the effort and the hard work. This is the fun part now. We'll let you guys know how it goes! Good luck to everyone else racing this weekend!

A 5k With My Co-workers!

2010-10-08T21:39:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday, October 3rd, I had the pleasure of doing a 5k with my co-workers! Earlier in the year I organized a Biggest Loser type of challenge at work which lasted for about 3 months. Collectively the staff lost 70 pounds and then decided they'd like to try a 5k! The timing couldn't have been better since there is a 5k near my hometown that is put on by past Biggest Loser contestants Mark and Jay (season 5). The race was to raise money and awareness for Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome. The 5k itself was awesome, Mark and Jay did such a great job!! In addition to Mark and Jay, there were 5 other Biggest Losers present, including 1 person who is CURRENTLY on the show, I won't say who, because I don't want to spoil anything, but all I can say is WOW!! He/she looked amazing!!!

For those of you who don't know what I do for work, I'm an American Sign Language interpreter but I also work at a Deaf community center where I have a wellness program. I teach the Deaf community about disease prevention, I teach cooking classes, exercise classes, provide workshops on various public health issues/concerns etc., all in sign language. Most of my co-workers are Deaf or Deaf-Blind. I love my job and I love my co-workers! (we all sit at a big table and have lunch together EVERYDAY).

Post 5k. A few people are missing from this picture. See past Loser contestant Amanda? #316, what a beautiful girl!!

I love this picture! This is my Co-worker, Elaine(in black). She is Deaf -blind. Everyone did such a fantastic job!

My dear friend, Beth, with Rudy!

I ran the race on my own and then went back to find everyone else. I came in 6th female OA and 3rd in my AG. Ryan ran with his brother and mom, she did such a great job, ran one of her best times yet. This race was just so great, I can't say enough good things about it! There were SO many newbies and first timers, it was such a welcoming environment.

The best part about the day?? My co-workers want to do it again next year! YAY! Actually, they can't wait for next year so we are going to do another one in the spring!

My First Almost Dog BIte

2010-10-06T17:18:00.000-04:00

Yes, as the title tells you, I got my first almost dog bite this weekend while running in my hometown! I've been chased by dogs numerous times on my bike and while running but this is the first time a dog has ever actually made contact with me, usually they just bark or run along side. The little bastard chased me while jumping on my leg and trying to bite. I say "trying" because it's mouth was too small to get a hold of my ankle. I could feel wetness from its nose and mouth and I looked down a few times and saw its jaw rapidly trying to get a grip. When it first ran out at me I didn't really care because 1. I thought there would be an electric fence, and 2. the dog was so tiny. The only thing that makes me angrier than the dog is the fact that its owner WAS STANDING IN THE FRONT YARD AND SAID/DID NOTHING. I kept looking over my shoulder waiting for the owner to run out and get the dog and apologize but nothing. Are you kidding me? Your dog is hanging on my leg, does this look like good behavior to you?

I tried to talk to the dog at first saying in a sweet voice "hey little guy, don't bark at me, I'm just out for a run, go home!" No good. I tried to cross the street, no good. I tried to slow down, no good. So i just kept running and eventually it went home. It's not like this size dog could have wrestled me to the ground or anyhting so I just kept going.

This is what the dog looked like. Pretty vicious, huh?

Part of me wanted to stop and yell at the owner or call him on the phone(small town = easy to figure out who people are) but I was so pissed that I was afraid to make a scene. Also, this happened in the town I will someday move back to, who knows when my path will cross the owner's path again so I didn't want to seem like a jerk. I did however call the animal control officer in my town and she was very sweet and is going to go by the house and talk to the owner. I also happen to know the people who live across from the dog so I asked them about the dog and they said it runs wild all the time and is ignored. We do have a leash law in town but it's not the fact that hte dog was loose that bothers me, it's the fact that it made contact with me. Is this a violent dog? If I was child-size it would have bitten me no problem.

I've been running for 13 years so I knew it was bound to happen sometime. If the owner had been more responsible and said something or came to check on me I wouldn't be so annoyed. It's just plain irresponsible. Needless to say, I won't be running by that house again!

What dog problems have u guys had?

Sorry, Mr. Yasso, But I Don't Believe You!

2010-09-30T22:01:00.000-04:00

This morning I did my 10x800s. The weather was HOT, humid and muggy. I was sucking wind after the first one. I did a 1 mile warm up to the track, did my ten 800s and then 1 mils cool down back home. I always use my Garmin on this track bc the track has no markings and doesn't appear to be all that accurate as I've discovered on past runs (for the 800s I only run around about 1 3/4 times). Oh, and remember the last blog post where I said I rarely sweat?? Today my sneakers were squishy when I got home, that's how soaked in sweat I was. What a nasty, nasty morning.
My goal for each 800 was sub 3:25. I usually keep each one between 3:15-3:20 but with a 20 miler planned for tomorrow I decided to stick to 3:25. I do about 45 seconds to 1 minute recovery b/w each 800. I didn't know until last week that your recovery time is supposed to be however long it took you to run the 800 (i.e. 3:22 recovery). OOPS. This is how I've always done them so that's what I did today.
1. 3:22
2. 3:21
3. 3:23
4. 3:20
5. 3:20
6. 3:22
7. 3:24
8. 3:21
9. 3:23
10. 3:23
Average time for each 800 was 3:22, with my average pace being 6:44.
SO, If you think I'm going to run 3:22:00 at my upcoming marathon, think again!! lol. No freaking way. Thanks for your boost of confidence Mr. Yasso, but I don't believe you! Only time will tell!

Salem's Wicked Half Marathon

2010-09-26T21:51:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, we ran the Wicked Half Marathon in Salem, MA (where the infamous Salem Witch Trials took place). It was an unseasonably HOT day, and it actually hit 90 degrees. The course was really nice, and winds around Salem and Marblehead, with some slight inclines and declines, but nothing too intense.

Ryan's Report:
I felt MISERABLE the entire race. My plan going in was to hover at a pace around 8:40 min/mile (about 10 seconds faster than marathon goal pace.) We did a mile warmup, and I was already feeling really hot. As soon as the gun went off, I knew it wasn't going to be my day. I had major stomach issues right from the start. It felt like a combination of rocks bouncing around in my stomach and a gremlin inside my stomach punching his way out. It was miserable. I suffered to hang onto 8:55 pace, and it was grueling. I usually love to run long distances, but this was a day where I just wanted to be done. I finished in 1:57:08, and it was one of my worst races I've had in a long time. I felt awful. Bethany came and tried to bring me in the last half mile, but I was too shamed and embarrassed of my poor performance that I told her I didn't want her to see me in such rough shape. Anyway, I felt better after the race, and I really love the race shirt. It's a long sleeve red tech-tee, with a cool black bat on it.

I drank some fluids and got something to eat and then felt better. We then decided to take the short ride up to Ipswich, MA to run on the Stone Cat Trails (where Bethany will be running her 50 miler in November, and I'll be running my first trail marathon). We found the trails, and popped into the woods for a few easy recovery miles. These trails looked really nice, relatively flat, very NON-technical (which Miss Bethany likes), and tons of snakes and chipmunks and other miscellaneous critters.

Bethany's Report:
I never have much to say in a race recap. I tend to just run and not really think about it. I had a good run. My plan was to run any pace under 7:50, my goal marathon pace. I started out on pace for a 1:38, which is reasonable for me but with the heat and the fact that I ran 31 miles 6 days earlier and I was out of work sick 2 days this week, I slowed down to a 1:41ish pace. My overall average was 7:41. I finished 10th woman overall (apparently I was 3rd before I slowed down) which is pretty rare for a race out here, most races here are VERY fast. I finished 7/172 in my age group. I'm glad I ran sub 7:50s, that's really all I cared about. If you count last Sunday to this past Saturday, I ran a total of 66 miles so I'm pleased with that. I went on to run 17.5 miles yesterday (I had to get in .5 because I ran 4.5 miles earlier in the week, I like a nice even number at the end of the week).
I got some chaffage on my back yesterday which was a first for me. I don't tend to get chaffage anywhere when I run. It wasn't from my bra but rather from my racing singlet (it was lower on my back) because my singlet got wet. I rarely sweat while I run, I'll finish a race and be bone dry so you know it's hot when I start sweating! I don't mind getting chaffage though because I love how it stings in the shower (true story!)

Post race pic taken at Salem Willows. Yes, it was windy, but my hair looks like this all the time wind or no wind

Have a nice week everyone

The Biggest Loser!! (I have a secret to tell you all...)

2010-09-22T21:49:00.001-04:00

Okay, SO, did anyone watch The Biggest Loser last night? Ya know how they went to 7 different cities to weigh-in contestants? Well I went to the Boston taping! It took place back in May and it was SOOOO awesome!! I even got to see Jillian Michaels!!! I wanted to tell you all so badly because I know many of you watch TBL but I had to keep it a secret. Here are some pictures from the taping in May....

Hanging out before the taping began, the whole thing took about 4 hours.

I tried to stay in the back of the crowd. As much as I like TBL, I felt like this event wasn't really for me. It was important for the people who were trying to lose weight/needing motivation be up in the front. There were people there of all shapes and sizes but I felt more comfortable in the back. There was 1 couple there that had to be close to 600 pounds each, it broke my heart, I hope they were able to make a positive change after experiencing the taping.

I was actually surprised at how pretty Jillian was in real life. Her body is slamming but I've never really been attracted to her face. In person I thought she was beautiful! She had the state police guarding her and whenever there was a break she would run back to her limo and wait inside. I was hoping she would interact with the crowd more. She seemed like more of a celebrity than a trainer. We also had to do a 20 minute workout by Jillian...I wasn't impressed. She made people do the same moves over and over for 20 minutes, moves that 300+ pound people should NOT be doing (i.e. 200 jumping jacks), all with ZERO safety cues. But people seemed to really enjoy it and I think a lot of people got the motivation they were looking for.

The 3 hopeful contestants

Getting ready for the step up challenge. The audience stepped along with the contestants as they made their way to 500 steps. It was fun screaming and cheering for them.

Some people were really out of shape and it was a hard/sad thing to witness. Some people had to stop after only 50 steps. I just can't imagine not being able to step up and down, something that seems so simple/effortless to me was near impossible for so many people there, it was a real eye-opener.

Me and Fredo. It was awesome to see how excited the contestants were and to feel excited along with them. It was a little difficult to see their families, as they were all pretty emotional. Of course it was REALLY sad to see Elizabeth pass out, poor thing, my heart was hurting for her and her family, who were all there watching.

Me and Brendan. He said he ran the Boston Marathon before, but there was no mention of that on the show last night so I'm not sure if that's accurate. It was crazy, these 2 guys went from being average Joes to celebrities within 5 minutes.

The black team getting their shirts. We all got black shirts to wear too (see above pictures of me). Mark Kruger was the host and he did a great job! He and his brother Jay were on season 5 of TBL. Ryan and I know them both personally because they are in our running club. They are both wonderful people and AMAZING athletes!!! Mark is minutes away from a BQ. Both are running a couple marathons this fall and Mark and I are running the same 50 miler in November.

The black team heading off to the ranch. They had about 5 minutes to say goodbye to their families then off they went. (Jillian left immediately after the taping ended. In fact, she jumped into the car while it was still moving!)

I saw myself on TV last night 4 times. BUT it was so quick that you'd never know, lol. I paused the TV and took these pictures. I had my pink sunglasses on my head (we weren't allowed to actually wear them) so I was able to spot the bright pink in the sea of black, I'm pointing to myself and my friend Lindsey who went with me.

There's me and Lindsey again. (BTW, Lindsey is running the Disney Half marathon as her first half in January. She is the one I did Team in Training in honor of).

It was so exciting to attend the taping. I felt like I was surrounded by positive people who were making the first steps in achieving a healthier life, or people who had already lost tons of weight because of the show. I wish the 2 (or is it 3 now?) Boston contestants as well as all the other contestants the best of luck. May they come to love and enjoy exercise and healthy eating as much as we all do!!!

A truly amazing and unique opportunity I will never forget!

CVS Downtown Providence 5km w/ Mom!

2010-09-20T21:30:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, while Miss Bethany was out running 31 miles in preparation for her upcoming 50 miler, Ryan ran with his Mom in the CVS Downtown Providence 5km. This race was also the USATF Road 5km National Championship, so it attracted a lot of the country's top runners. There were a total of about 6,000 runners for the 5km, with a couple thousand more for the high school 3km, so it's a pretty big event. Ryan's mom had run about 4 other 5km and one 10 km race, but this was definitely the biggest one she's taken part in.

We got to the race in plenty of time, picked up our t-shirts and goody bags (CVS really puts together swag bag for the participants!) We hung out on the RI State House lawn, waiting for the race to start, while the Rolling Bones, a zombie-rock cover band played. Mom was a little nervous as we got to our starting corral, but I knew she'd be alright.

Here we are before the race.

We started out maybe a little too fast, got caught up in the rush of the excitement of the start, but we settled into a nice 11:00 min/mile pace and continued strong the entire way. We never stopped to walk, and ran continuously the entire way! There was even a bit of an incline the last half-mile, but Mom actually sped up a little and powered up that last incline and across the finish, for a time of 34:18. So proud of my Mom, she did so well!

Now, here's where the race report gets really sad. As we crossed the finish line, we saw the very sad sight of a man lying on the ground, with a crowd of medics/EMTs performing CPR on him. We said a quick prayer for him, hoping that he would make it through, as the ambulance took him to the hospital. We kept following the local Rhode Island news to see if there were any updates on him, and today the sad news was confirmed that the 29 year old young man had passed away. It's so sad to think that he probably woke up yesterday morning looking forward to a fun 5km, excitedly got to the start, just like everyone else, ran his race, and then in a blink of an eye, it's all gone. A sad reminder for all of us that we must cherish every moment we have. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in this incredibly tough time.

What Would You Have Done???

2010-09-18T09:08:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went swimming at my gym but the usual lifeguard was not there, instead there was a sub who was..SLEEPING?!?!?!? I swam in the pool for at least 15 minutes before he noticed I was there! There were about 6 other people swimming as well, including 3 old ladies using pool noodles (gotta love "lap swim" at my gym...NOT). The lifeguard had his hood up tied tight around his face and was completely bent over, head-in-lap sleeping. Every breath I took on his side I'd check to see if he was awake but NOPE. I was getting really annoyed. Obviously I feel safe swimming without a lifeguard but it's the "what-ifs" that were scary and bothersome to me. What if one of those old ladies needed help? What if 2 swimmers collided? (BTW, that happened to me there once, a girl just entered my lane and swam right at me! OUCH) What if a kid wandered into the pool area from the connecting locker rooms? I'm sure a splash would wake him, but would it? He didn't hear me enter the pool...

Eventually he did wake up and then he got out of his chair and walked around the pool, (making a conscious effort to stay awake, good choice). I was still really peeved and in the end I told the front desk the lifeguard had been sleeping. They were pissed and one guy took off running to the pool...not sure I'll ever see that lifeguard at my gym again and I'm okay with that!!!!

What would you have done??

Race Report: Nahant 30K

2010-09-13T22:07:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we ran the Nahant 30K for the second year in a row. This race is a GREAT tune-up for a fall marathon and nothing beats the HILLY course!! Everything was well organized, the course was marked MUCH better this year! Instead of a T-shirt we got arm warmers, so it was nice to get something different.
The race started at 8:30am and this year we could actually see our surroundings! Last year it was cold, rainy and foggy and we were unable to see the spectacular views along the coast, or should I say cliffs. This year we were able to see the Boston skyline off in the distance so that was nice! It really is a pretty course, all along the water through the quaint town of Nahant. In order to get to Nahant you have to drive about 1.5 miles on a causeway so it feels like running on an Island. The hills and ocean made me think I was running on Bermuda! Another thing we like about this race is the course, we were able to see each other 4 times in passing, we even got to slap hands at one point, lol.
Neither one of us "raced" this race, we both treated it as if it was our fall marathon with a nice an easy warm-up and then we eased into our marathon goal paces (MGP). Both of us held our MGP was relative ease and we both ran dead-even splits. According to our Garmins, my average pace was 7:50 and Ryan's was 8:49. Ryan is hoping for under 3:55:00 (his PR is 3:56:xx) and i'm hoping for 3:28:00 (my PR is 3:29:13) or faster. I would love to hit sub 3:28 because my first and second marathon times were 4:54 and 4:58, I'd love to officially take 1.5 hours off my slowest marathon, which at the time was difficult!

Ryan at mile 18.5. He looked great at the finish!! (we <3 this race, they even take free running pix for us!!)

Ryan right after he finished. I went for a cool down to top it off at 20 miles and I got back just as Ryan was crossing the finish line! Talk about good timing!

Both feeling confident for fall marathon PRs!

Wedding Update (Save-The-Dates, Running Style) . . . and the Rest of Our August Vaca in Maine

2010-09-08T21:30:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, just wanted to give you guys a quick update on our wedding planning. As you all probably already know, we've signed up for our honeymoon marathon: Rock n Roll San Diego! Also, two days after our wedding we're planning on heading up to Pineland Farms in Maine to run a trail 50km.

We just sent out our 'Save-The-Dates,' and of course, they're running-themed. Ryan's brother took the picture, in York, Maine near Nubble Lighthouse. Ryan's cousin designed the magnet. Check it out:

And here are the rest of our pics from our August vacation in Maine after Run for the Fallen:

Ryan exiting the human maze. Ryan took 19 minutes. Bethany took 6 minutes.

Ryan dominating the arm wrestling game in the arcade. Notice the sweat and the veins popping out of his forehead.

Miss Bethany being a little kid and winning a bunch of tickets in a jumping game.

6 miles for 6 years. On August 24, we celebrated our 6 years of dating by running 6 miles. (You might remember last year's 5 miles for 5 years post.)

Ryan and his parents, who joined us on vacation in Maine for a few days.

Somewhere around mile 5 of our run.

Well that's all for today. We're both racing this weekend, so we'll hopefully have some good news and a nice race report for you next week! Have a good rest of the week, everyone!

Cranberry Triathlon and Wapack Trail Race

2010-09-06T21:07:00.002-04:00

Better late than never, here are some pics from Miss Bethany's sprint tri two weeks ago. Unfortunately she missed signing up for the Cranberry Olympic distance, so she had to sign up for the Sprint distance instead. She's more a fan of the longer distances.

Miss Bethany coming out of the water.

Miss Bethany cruising along on her 'Pinkie.' (She's in the process of getting a pink helmet.)

She also had a great run (sub 7:00 min/miles), and she was too quick for me, so I couldn't get a pic of her! She ended up finishing well in 6th out of 36 in her age group, not bad considering we've been primarily focusing on running this summer and her tris have taken a backseat.

Now this weekend, I took on a new challenge and ran the Wapack Trail Race with a couple trail running buddies. Knowing how technical this trail race was, Miss Bethany decided to sit this one out. This race was UNREAL. It starts in New Ipswich, NH and runs 9 miles up, over, and down four mountains (Barrett Mt., New Ipswich Mt., Pratt Mt., and Mt. Watatic), and when you get over and down Mt. Watatic, you turn around and go back the way you came, for a total of 18 miles and 8 mountain ascents and descents. Some of these ascents/descents are like 40% grade. It's one of those trail races where your feet just take an absolute beating, and ankles get rolled, and people hit the deck all over the place. I rolled my ankles about 100 times each, and probably had about a dozen close calls where I almost tumbled down a mountain, but I managed to avoid totally hitting the deck. It's a brutal race, but it is just so much fun.

Coming into the finish line, back on normal terrain, still feeling good. Total time: 4:44, 18 miles, 8 mountains, 4000' of ascent, 4000' of descent.

The gang of trail animals after the race. What a good group, what a good day! These are some serious trail runners.

Here are some photos/elevation map of the race course:

(photo from http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7Qj7Dmy-Hws/S-a-mDM1jYI/AAAAAAAAMRg/8hWLxB5o7UU/s1600/IMG_1234.JPG)
NOTE: I've been kindly informed that our race on Sunday did not reach this point of the Wapack Trail. (All I tried to do was a quick GoogleImage search for a pic of the trail to give you guys an idea of what it was like, and I guess I failed - it all looks the same to me: roots, rocks, mountains, trees, etc.) Hopefully I WILL be able to run this part of the trail during next year's spring Wapack race which goes the length of the 21.5 mile trail. (Although Miss Bethany might have other plans for me, as the race is two weeks before our wedding.)

(photo from http://www.wapack.org/)

Elevation chart. Ouch.

We Just Signed Up For Our Honeymoon Marathon!!!

2010-09-02T21:30:00.000-04:00

We just signed up for our honeymoon marathon: Rock n Roll San Diego Marathon!!! June 5, 2011!

On the Sunday after our wedding, we'll be running the Pineland Farms Trail 50km again, and then heading out to San Diego!

Exciting!

It's a Boy!

2010-08-31T18:28:00.001-04:00

We have a new nephew! Joshua Samuel was born August 27th at 11:46am. Bethany's sister's 2nd baby. Pictures below.

Auntie Bethany a.k.a Ah-Boo

Close-up of Josh

Ryan carefully holding the baby.

Ryan (also a big brother) bought a basketball hoop for Joshua's big brother, Robby.

Ryan and his "little" brother at the Shipyard Brewery during our Maine vacation last week.

Ryan and his buddy, Robby.

We have plenty to blog about lately, so stay tuned. We'll have more pics from our Maine vaca and some pics from Miss Bethany's triathlon this weekend.

We Met an American President . . . . and we have the pictures to prove it

2010-08-26T22:44:00.001-04:00

Our 'Run for the Fallen' this weekend was quite an experience. We both ran really well, and although we were hoping to run more, we got in about 26.5 miles (don't think anyone was able to run the whole 65 km). The run started in Ogunquit, ME and finished in Portland, ME. Due to the event's logistics and strict schedule, we were unable to run more than that. We ran as much as we possibly could at all times until the trolley picked us up and moved us along to maintain the event schedule. By no means were we running slow, but since most people were running much shorter distances (5km-10km or so), naturally they would be running faster.

It was a truly emotional event, with each kilometer commemorating one of Maine's fallen soldiers. Each kilometer was marked with a poster of a particular fallen soldier, and their families would stand by cheering and greeting the runners. It truly was quite a sight and feeling to run by these families who had suffered such great losses.

After the run, we were driven by trolley to Cape Elizabeth, where we had a nice lobster bake and made some new friends (who Miss Bethany excitedly chatted about Ironmans with). We were busy eating and chatting when the race director made an announcement that a special guest had arrived to greet all the families and all the runners. . . .

George W. Bush and his wife, Laura! They were incredibly personable, down-to-earth, and friendly. They stayed for hours, until every person had a chance to shake hands and take a picture with them.

What was really funny is how he shook Ryan's hand. First, we started out with a normal handshake, and then went into the full arm-wrestle-type handshake, as if we were old friends (see above.)

The first thing he did was comment on our Zensah sleeves, and then he asked if we were married and when we said 'not yet,' he asked if there was anything he could do to speed the process along. :-)

Pre-race display in Ogunquit's Veterans Square.

Leaving Ogunquit (Ryan in green, Miss Bethany too short to be seen).

One of the markers for one of the heroes along the way.

This cute little dude was awesome. When we ran past him, he jumped in and ran a bit with us, and then once he was getting out of shouting distance from his family, he stopped, and yelled to us 'GO GO GO GO GO GO!'

Another family of a fallen hero.

Some veterans/supporters along the course.

Getting ready to head over the Casco Bay Bridge for the last 4 km (notice Ryan changed his shirt, Miss Bethany in red, white and blue).

Coming into Portland.

Monument Square in Portland.

Our trolley, aptly named Holly.

Cape Elizabeth, where we had our lobster bake. If you've run Beach to Beacon, this sight may be familiar.

Post-run lobster bake.

Post-run lobstah (and un-clean hot dog :-), hey I needed to replenish the calories I burned)

All smiles after 26.5 miles and some lobstah :-)

It was a GREAT weekend. Miss Bethany always wanted to just catch a glimpse of an American president, nevermind shake hands, talk and get her picture taken with one!

We have some other pics from the rest of our Maine mini-vacation that we'll post later.

65km for 65 Heroes

2010-08-22T04:51:00.000-04:00

It's 4:40am and we are about to leave for Ogunquit Maine to take part in our first ever tribute run. Today we will be running somewhere b/w 50-65km as part of "Run For The Fallen, Maine." The run honors the life of the 65 service men and women from Maine who have died since September 11th. You can check out the website HERE.
We will be in Maine for a few days and we will post some pictures from the event when we get back. It looks like a really emotional event, if you have time, watch some of the video on the website. Each kilometer is marked with a sign/picture of each soldier and their families will be standing at their as well. There is a ceremony before and after the run. Please keep these people and all other military families in your thoughts today. It doesn't matter what you think about the war, bottom line is there are good, brave people dying for us and we should all honor them and be thankful for them.

We will post a recap in a few days. Hope you are all having a nice weekend.

New PR's and Blogiversary

2010-08-16T20:50:00.005-04:00

This past weekend we ran 2 races, the Brew run Saturday night , 5.2 miles, and the Falmouth Road Race (FRR), 7.1 miles, Sunday morning. This post we'll just focus on Falmouth because we both got PRs (sort of).
This was the 38th running of the FRR. It's a very famous race that attracts A LOT of elite runners. The course is all along the coast and is quite gorgeous! It has no shade and has a few rolling hills, since it's held in August, it's usually pretty hot. This is the kind of race that has helicopters and is shown live on TV. Every year there are about 10,000 runners and everyone is assigned a bib number based on past performance. This year miss Bethany was bib # F97, which is the reason why she "sort of" got a PR. more on that later...
Ryan's past PR on this course was 57:30 which he set last year. Keep in mind we did our long run Friday morning and a road race Saturday night which we did as a tempo run so our legs weren't as fresh as they could have been. This year Ryan did 55:29, 7:52 pace a 2:01 PR!
Last year Bethany did 50:27 and this year did 50:22, so technically a 5 sec PR, right? Well because she was in the top 100, her time was based on gun time rather than net time like everyone else. bummer! So technically the garmin showed a PR, but it goes down in the books as 50:34. oh well.

We ran by this just after mile 1.

See how pretty?

Also, August 15th was the 1 year anniversary of our blog!

Happy Birthday Blog!

More in our next post about our Saturday night race - We got there 4 minutes before it started!

Thanks for reading our blog!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Quick Update

2010-08-13T11:47:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, just Ryan blogging today. Miss Bethany's working. We had a nice easy 15-miler before she had to go off to work. (I'm off today.) It was such a nice, cool morning, and it was nice to run for a couple hours and discuss some wedding stuff.

We have a really busy weekend coming up, with two races, both down on Cape Cod. Tomorrow we're heading down to do the Brewster Brew Run, a 5.2 miler that we'll take nice and easy, and while we're at it, we'll hop over to Falmouth to pick up our race numbers for Sunday's Falmouth Road Race (a pretty popular 7 miler).

Falmouth always attracts a lot of big names in road racing, and this year is no different. This year, Meb Keflezighi and Antonio Vega will be running, along with a number of Kenyans. For women, Catherine Ndereba and Colleen de Reuck will be running as well.

Well that's just a quick update on what we're doing this weekend. What are you guys up to?

And because no one likes a blogpost without pics, here's a pic of the dog I want (we met him in Alaska):

His name is Buddy.

Dam Trail Race and Purgatory

2010-08-08T21:51:00.000-04:00

We ran a really fun trail race yesterday out in Oxford, MA. It was called the Oxford Dam Trail Race, and it was mostly rolling hills with a first few miles of technical trails, with the trails getting slightly less-technical as the race progressed. It was an 11 mile race, and a few of our track club friends also ran as well. There were a total of about 125 runners, some of which decided to run the 5 mile option. We ran 1 mile before the race, and 1 mile after the race, to top it off at 13 miles for the day.

So we started out the race with Ryan leading the way, but about 3.5 miles into the race, Miss Bethany wasn't happy with the pace and technicality of the course (Ryan is a bit more fearless (or stupid) running on trails than Miss Bethany), so we took it down a notch so as to avoid any trip-and-fall-down-a-rocky-hill injuries, and we kinda just enjoyed the scenery the rest of the way. At about mile 8, we had our first stream crossing! So much fun, Ryan loved to splash across the knee-deep stream. Since Miss Bethany was still a little grouchy at this point, she got a bit peeved when Ryan's stomping splashed her sunglasses.

After the race, on the way home, we saw a sign for Purgatory Chasm State Reservation, so we pulled over and checked it out and did some hiking. It was really cool, and here's some pics from it:

Miss Bethany at the entrance to Purgatory Chasm

Miss Bethany at Lovers Leap :-)

Ryan hiking up some rocks.

Just signed up for my FIRST race...

2010-08-05T21:53:00.000-04:00

as...

Bethany Couto!!! (Ryan's last name)

Just signed up for the Rock n' Roll Half Marathon in Providence RI on August 7, 2011 and I'll be a married woman by then.

:-)

This Past Week in Pictures

2010-08-01T21:17:00.000-04:00

We've had a pretty busy week! Sorry we haven't updated this week, we've been really busy! Ryan's been working a lot of overtime, and we really just haven't gotten a chance to sit down together and blog! But here's a quick recap of what we've been up to lately:

Miss Bethany finishing the Whaling City Triathlon last weekend. She did well, finishing 4/20 in her division. Ryan played the role of spectator/photographer and got some good pics!

Post-race pic with teammate Lisa, who came in 4th woman overall! Woohoo, go Team Racemenu/mix1!

We ran the Harborthon 5k on one of the Boston Harbor Islands (see the Boston skyline in the background). It was interesting to run a race at night, after work, so we didn't really know what to expect, but it was a lot of fun. We had to take a nice little boat ride over to the race. It was kind of a hilly course, but it was fun, and there was a nice post-race bbq and free beer afterwards! Miss Bethany ran really well, finishing 9th out of 417 women with a 21:45 (over a minute slower than her PR :-p), and Ryan ran pretty well, finishing in 23:14 (only about 35 seconds off his PR!).

Ryan went fishing today with his dad and brother, and caught a nice bass!

KRDP cookout with all our closest running friends! This is a hardcore group of trail runners, ultra-runners, marathoners, and all-around good people!

Ryan also got some cross-training in on the bike today.

****WEDDING UPDATE: We had a successful wedding weekend: booked a florist, got our centerpiece stuff, and found an organist/singer for the church. ****

(Our First) Wordless Wednesday!!

2010-07-27T22:30:00.000-04:00

(Yes, we know it's not Wednesday yet, but by the time you read this, it probably will be.)

My Favorite Medals

2010-07-21T18:02:00.000-04:00

After reading Marlene's post, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours," I decided to join in on the fun. I LOVE medals! As tacky, cheesy and clunky as they may be, I never get tired of getting them. I have really enjoyed seeing everyone's medals, so thanks to all who have shared.
I keep all my medals in my bedroom at my parent's house, I don't sleep there often, but when i do, i love walking in and seeing all my bling.

I have wood paneling all the way around my room so I hang them on push pins.

When we get thunderstorms they rattle against the wall and wake me up, lol.

If I took them all down, I would be able to put them all back in the exact same spot.

These are my favorite medals. 3 medals x 5 years = still want more :-)

It's fun to see how a medal improves over the years. The 2005 medal was small and no color, the 2010 medal is much fancier!

This is my least favorite. I have very tiny hands (my engagement ring is 3.25) so this medal may look normal-sized in my hand, but I assure you, it's the size of a QUARTER!!! It's sooooo tiny. Not to be picky here, but I don't like the red, white and blue ribbon on medals. :-P

It's nice to get different things sometimes too. Here is my cowbell from my 50k and my sash from Disney.

I don't pick a race based on the medal, but it is definitely a nice perk. Whenever people ask me if I collect anything, I never know what to say. I want to say I collect running medals, but not sure if that makes sense. Ryan and I always take a smoochy picture with our medals after a race. :-)

What is YOUR favorite medal? Thanks, Marlene, good idea.

Race Report: Skyline Trail Run

2010-07-18T21:33:00.001-04:00

Sunday, July 11th, we made the last-minute decision to join our friends in the Skyline Trail Run. This "race" is a hard-core trail run over serious hills/mountains, rocks, roots, and all kinds of terrain. One of our friends had the race t-shirt from last year, and it pictured a stick-figure falling on his head off a mountain. There were points in the race where it was necessary to use your hands to pull yourself up rocks. The race started at the base of the Blue Hills Ski Area, and the final mile is a sprint down a nice, steep ski slope. It was definitely quite an experience and quite a workout. Even Miss Bethany was drenched in sweat, which NEVER happens. It is a 7 mile race (something would normally take us less than an hour on the road), and it took us 2:15 to complete this grueling course. Our friends warned us it would be tough, but nothing they could say could have done justice to this course. Unbelievably, the winner (a serious New England trail runner) won with a time of 1:04. Unreal.

This is a picture taken on the Skyline Trail. Imagine 'running' 7 miles up and down this. Yeah, it's that tough.

After we finished the race, phew, we were tired and beat! We can't wait for next year! We might even go back sooner and hike it to get in some practice :-p

Do You Recognize This Olympic Athlete??

2010-07-15T19:13:00.000-04:00

Yup, it's 5-time Olympian and 12-time medalist Dara Torres!!! (and me)

Help! We Can't Comment on Your Blogs!!

2010-07-11T20:50:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone, we are having trouble commenting on your blogs and we need your help to solve it. Well, actually, this has been going on for awhile. We read a lot of blogs, but we cannot comment on half of them!! If someone has their comment box embedded in their post, then we CANNOT comment. If you have a "post a comment" link, which opens up a new window, then we CAN post a comment. Most of the blogs we read have the comment box embedded (where you have to select your profile, URL or user ID or something) so we cannot comment. We do use Firefox, but have also tried it from Internet Explorer and sometimes we are able to comment but other times we are not. Help! We want to leave comments on your blogs!!
Thanks.
Crazy trail race today...detailed race report coming soon...

Busy 4th of July Race Weekend!

2010-07-05T21:04:00.000-04:00

Here's a recap of our busy 4th of July weekend! What a weekend it was, busy and exciting, just the way we like it!

Saturday, July 3rd, we ran the Mattapoisett Road Race (5 miler). Mattapoisett is Miss Bethany's hometown, so it's a must-run every year for us. It was a little hot out, so neither of us really ran the race we wanted to, but it was still a lot of fun, and we got to see a lot of our running friends. Miss Bethany ended up doing 37:26, about 2 minutes slower than she was hoping for. Ryan ended up with 39:03, about 1.5 minutes slower than he was hoping for. Oh well, we did just run 2 marathons + a 50k in the past 2 months. This was really the first time we were trying to push the pace over a short distance in a long time, so we're not disappointed at all. =)

Here's the gang of us after the race.

Sunday, July 4th, we ran the Patriots 10km, which finished right at Gillette Stadium, where the New England Patriots play. This race was run by DMSE, who also run the Boston Marathon, so it was VERY organized, and well-put-together. It was SO much fun. Miss Bethany did the race with a friend, Beth. It was her first race ever, and they've been training together since March. Beth did a fabulous job, and really enjoyed herself, and will definitely run more races in the future! GREAT JOB, BETH! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!

Ryan ran the race solo, and really didn't know how the race would play out, considering he'd put in a solid effort the day before at the Mattapoisett 5 miler. So he started out slow, doing 8:55 min/miles for the first 3 miles, just enjoying the race. However, once we made the turn back towards the stadium, Ryan just got this burst of excitement and started speeding things up. Average pace dropped quite a bit, and unbelievably, once the stadium was in sight, Ryan's last mile was a 6:36, and the last half mile into the stadium, through the tunnel and onto the field was at 5:36 pace. Haha, he just got this crazy burst of adrenaline, running through the tunnel, jumped up and slapped the underside of the inflatable helmet, and sprinted down the field, passing many people. (I'm sure lots of onlookers thought I was a madman.) After the race, Ryan turned around and ran back out on the course to find Bethany and Beth, and then ran back in with them, topping out at 10 miles on the day.

This is similar to the tunnel we ran out of yesterday. So much fun!!! So exciting!!!

Bethany and Beth just after mile 5.

Bethany and Beth heading to the stadium.

Bethany and Beth heading into the tunnel and onto the field!

Hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend!!

My First Virtual Race and a 1/2 Marathon Race Recap

2010-07-01T21:22:00.001-04:00

Hi friends, this post is written by Bethany, so "I," means Bethany. :-)

This post is LATE but better late than never! I did my first virtual run back on May 26th, it was hosted by Katye from Long Legs on the Loose. The 3 mile run was in memory of Chelsea King so I couldn't pass up the chance to participate. I did a 1 mile warm up from my apt to the track, ran 3 miles non-stop on the track and then ran 1 mile back home as a cool down. The run was enjoyable, it was VERY hot out that day even though I ran at 8am. I always run with my Garmin when running around this particular track because the distance is a bit off, 3 3/4 laps is 1 mile. It took me awhile to realize the track was off, I thought I was off! I kept getting frustrated wondering why my times were so slow then one day I brought my Garmin along and figured it out.

Stats: 3 Miles, 20:45, 6:54 pace.

Half Marathon Race Recap: 13.1 Marathon "Boston"

This past Sunday I ran a half marathon with my dear friend Jill. It was her first half and she was AMAZING! She was VERY strong and VERY upbeat! She just kept going and going, never complained once! I was very proud of her and I had a great time! I asked her to be one of my bridesmaids around mile 7. She said yes :-)

Running with Jill was great but he race itself was not. VERY VERY UNORGANIZED!! I have run hundreds of races and I've never seen anything like this before, it was downright bad. This race was advertised as being in Boston but really it was 30 minutes outside of the city in a very rural town (this I already knew...). The course was said to have a few rolling hills but there were a lot of decent hills. Water stops not only ran out of water EARLY ON, but CUPS too. People were drinking straight out of gallons. Luckily I grabbed a cup at mile 2 and held onto it for the rest of the race. Even before the race was weird...we weren't allowed to make 1 line for ever 3 port-a-potties, we had to make individual lines at each one, which took forever!! I had to climb over a stone wall to get the the start (which resulted in a little blood), we started behind at least 1,000 walkers and the finish line was disorganized too. To get our medals once we finished, we had to walk across a field (way out of the way) and pick one off a table...When it was time to leave we were trapped in the parking lot!! They would not let any cars out until 9:30am, the race started at 6:13. Yes, 6:13, that is not a typo. ANYWAY, I don't want tot be all negative about it so that's enough dissing on 13.1 "Boston." I got the impression that they were trying to model themselves after Rock N' Roll races but it was nothing like a RNR event. OK, like I said, enough dissing on them...

Does she look good, or what??? (at the finish)

Yay, GO JILL!

Happy 4th to everyone!! We will be racing on Saturday and then doing another race Sunday for fun. Sunday I'll be running a 10k with my friend Beth! It will be her first race ever! I'm so excited for her!!

** Leave words of encouragement/advice for Beth and I'll make sure she reads the comments!**

Wishing you all a safe and fun holiday weekend!!!!