Hot, Hazy & Humid

Greg calls it his three "H's" and I experienced all three today, but I still rocked it today (for me)! It was high 70s at the start and low 80s when I finished. As promised, Coach Bill Luti was giving out the 2-mile splits and it wa the coolest to hear runners yell "hello, Coach Luti!". I finished in 52:49 and was more than happy with that since it's a PR. My trip with the girls is shaping up wonderfully, but that will require a separate post.

24th state completed. The 25th state will be an 8-miler in the morning. Can't wait!

Saturday's Race

I will knock off our 24th state tomorrow morning by running the Bill Luti 5-Miler in Concord, New Hampshire. I chose this race after I read about who Bill Luti is. He helped organize this race in 1968, which is now known as one of the oldest foot races in New England. Bill coached the Boys' Cross Country at Concord High School from 1957-1982, winning 13 state championships and 4 New England titles. He returned from retirement to bring more state titles to the girls' cross country. He will be the official starter, will give the 2-mile splits, and present awards to "Luti Alums". I look forward to this local race in the morning! Best of all, it will be another wonderful morning with my girls!

New Hampshire and Vermont Here We Come

Looks like a "girl's weekend" has been confirmed! Me and my little princesses are heading out to New England for a little girly fun, which includes watching Mom run. On the plus side, this little weekend jaunt will also include lots of fun, food, shopping and giggles! Can't wait! I've never been to Vermont and I'm looking forward to having some Ben & Jerry's (in their home state).

So I will leave you with some fun Vermont facts (who says traveling and running can't be educational, too?!):

1. Montpelier, VT is the only state capital without a McDonald's and, until 1996, VT was the only state without a Wal-Mart (I'm loving this state more and more).
2. In ratio of cows to people, VT has the greatest number of dairy cows in the country.
3. And my favorite fun fact: Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream company gives their ice cream waste to the local Vermont farmers who use it to feed their hogs. The hogs seem to like all of the flavors except Mint Oreo (really? I love Mint Oreo).

Now, we can't leave out New Hampshire:

1. In 1833 the first free public library in the United States was established in Peterborough (I love the library).
2. Levi Hutchins of Concord invented the first alarm clock in 1787 (can't say I'm a fan of alarm clocks).
3. New Hampshire adopted the first legal lottery in the twentieth century United States in 1963 (looks like I have to buy at least one lottery ticket while there).

Road trip here we come! Time to put together the iTunes playlist!

Night Before the Maine Half Marathon

Saturday morning began with a wonderful breakfast spot called Popovers where we had great coffee and even better breakfast sandwiches. Afterwards, we checked out the local Farmer's Market at the City Hall in Portsmouth, NH. Bridget got her apple, Meg got fresh baked cinnamon donuts, and I picked out (what I hope to be) a good batch of granola. When we left the Farmer's Market, Bridget spied a neat little playground so we gave her some swing/slide time. Turned out Meg and I enjoyed a little teeter-totter time as well!


The expo for the Maine Harvard Pilgrim Half Marathon will go down as one of the bests. The expo was held in the gymnasium of the York High School and my husband and I both commented on how the smell of a high school gym is like no other and sure brings you back! But best of all, I got to meet Kathrine Switzer!!!! She signed my copy of Marathon Woman, chatted with both Greg and I as if we were the only people around, asked us questions about our racing, and was overall just a fantastic person. Even better, she agreed to a photo with me! Oh yeah, this will be hanging in my office!


Am I ready for this? I dunno. I know I can finish this distance, I've done it about a dozen times now, but timewise I'm not sure what to shoot for. McMillan calculator has predicted a 2:39 finish, but McMillan doesn't know about my calf strain that sidelined me from training. McMillan also doesn't know that 8 miles (last week as a matter of fact) was my LONGEST run. In a way, I hope that calculation is correct; but a part of me sure as hell hopes it is wrong! Fingers crossed...

Happy 16th Birthday, Pumpkin!

We spent Meg's sweet 16 with a great breakfast, little side trip to Harvard which included a Harvard crimson sweatshirt and a chocolate decadence cake at Finale, then a wonderful hotel room in New Hampshire.


Birthday dinner had to be special and it sure was! We dined at Warren's Lobster House in Kittery, Maine so Meg could have real Maine lobster. This place rocks! I'm not even sure I could do it justice by describing our dining experience because we all had a great meal, the service was spot on, and they even sang happy birthday to Meg when they delivered her "ice scream bomb" to her! The sweetest moment was when Bridget softly sang happy birthday to Meg privately while Meg was eating the dessert. Warren's also gives each patron a little key to see if they can open up the treasure chest. Nope, none of us had the lucky key! Back to the hotel to watch Bolt on DVD. A great day for my little pumpkin!