Tag Archives: marathon

Benefit Nite For Cancer Research March 23rd!

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Local Friends! I’m once again hosting a benefit night at Flatbreads in Portsmouth, NH. Come in or take out pizza on Wednesday night, 3/23 to benefit Jenn’s Boston Run for cancer research. A portion of every pizza sold Wednesday night will go to the charity. We will be hosting a raffle as well. Stop by or reach out to support.

Far Away Friends! You can also directly donate any amount at www.jennsbostonrun4dana.com to support my Boston Marathon run.

50/50 Raffle Coming soon.
I’ll be hosting a 50/50 VIRTUAL raffle next week and through Wednesday night. More details to follow and you can buy tickets in person or online!

This banner has withstood the test of time. Flatbreads has a rustic feel and they require a hand-made banner to hang in the restaurant for the week before the benefit night every Wednesday. Luckily I kept the banner from 2015 and the kids helped me re-paint it and refresh the paint on the panda! (my daughters favorite animal growing up)

Thank you,

-Jenn

I’m Running Boston 2022 with Dana-Farber!

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I’m back baby! I am running the 2022 Boston Marathon for Dana-Farber on April 18th, 2022!  I am so excited and honored to have been selected by DFMC to run Boston and support vital cancer research through the Claudia Adams Barr Program.  You can find out more about the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge at www.rundfmc.org

Wow, where to begin. 2020 was to be my running ‘comeback year’, we all know how that turned out thanks to the pandemic! I did manage to run some races and continued to work on my running and Peloton obsession (more on that later). Last year, I ran a few more local races and the 2021 Chicago Marathon – in person! It was so great to be back racing IRL and ending the year on a high note!

Heading into 2022, I decided to “re-up” with Dana-Farber for a few reasons.  I’m so inspired by several women I’ve met in the last year who are in treatment for cancer and sharing their stories.  Runners, moms, friends, all going through treatment with incredible grace and strength.  I’m dedicating my marathon in 2022 to Jaimie, Anne & Angela who inspire me everyday.  I also wanted to make a direct impact by raising funds for cancer research by running with the DFMC team.  EVERY DOLLAR RAISED GOES TO VITAL CANCER RESEARCH!   

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
– Theodore Roosevelt

My favorite quote and personal motto is to “Dare Mighty Things”.  Why do I keep running marathons, why keep challenging myself?  I’d rather dare mighty things.  2022’s mighty thing is to run Boston and raise $13,000 for cancer research! 

Help me dare mighty things, a world without cancer! Please consider donating to Dana-Farber.  You can make a tax-deductible donation on my page below and please ask me about company matching!  You can double your donation at many companies through the company MATCHING program.  Ask me how!

Please consider a donation to my run at my fundraising page:  jennsbostonrun4dana.com

Follow along with my training here and on Instagram @jennsbostonrun

Dare mighty things!
– Jenn

Running Through 2020 Like…

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WordPress reminded me to renew my blog so it’s definitely time for an update. Last we left, i was running the Chicago Marathon in October 2019. That did happen! I really enjoyed my weekend in Chicago and the marathon was very well organized and the best part is i could walk to the start line from the hotel–no messing around with race day transportation which is always tricky! For my past Marine Corps and NYC marathons, I have showed up late to the starting line late despite following prescribed transportation! (looking at you Staten Island Ferry!)

I’ll have to share more about Chicago, but after the marathon my knee was in bad shape and I had orthoscopic knee surgery the first week of December 2019. It all went well and was nice to hear my surgeon say “it wasn’t as bad as I thought” when he came around post-op. Great! So I started PT through January and on my doctor’s advice, I considered taking up cycling. Running has always been my thing, no equipment, can do it anywhere, low hassle sport. But i would have to wait a few months to get walking again before even trying to run. So enter the Peloton bike. We ordered in December specifically expecting to need a bike to rehab my knee. I think i did my first 10 min ride in January 2020 and my new obsession was born! I’m going to save my Peloton journey for a next post or next 5 posts(buckle up)!

So then the pandemic hit and we have been working from home/ schooling from home since March 13th. I’ve quit counting off the days but it’s been about 6 months and it was great timing to have the Peloton in the basement since i was not going out to the gym during the times of quarantine.

2020 was to be my big year! This year was the Comeback Tour after knee surgery. I planned to run the Marine Corps Marathon in October. I turned 50 in May (uh oh) This was going to be MY YEAR! I was going to get my running back on track and take my fitness to the next level!

Whomp Whomp, then the pandemic hit. 😦 So the first half of the Comeback tour was cancelled but we’ve added some new dates and new goals!

NEW 2020 Goals
I had a few fitness goals for this year and i’ve since revised them for this new world. I have been running and riding a lot more than I expected, likely had more free time working from home and not having to keep up with going places!

  1. Run 700 miles – I’m actually on track to run 1000 miles this year!
  2. Bike 1300 miles – I’m actually on track to bike 2020 miles this year or that’s my goal.
  3. Lose weight and keep it off – I’ve actually lost 31 pounds since January 2020 (future blog post!) Not much to do during pandemic but work out and I’ve been able to avoid some of my usual junk food traps by never leaving the house.

My 2020 Comeback Tour — All shows cancelled (like many a Morrissey Tour!) plus new Dates Added! Many of you know I love The Smiths and Morrissey and the latter is famous for cancelling shows though I’ve seen him 4 out of 5 shows in recent years, that’s a decent track record.

Comeback Tour 2.0 | Comeback Tour 2020 Dates!

4/18 Boston Athletic Association 5K (BAA Medley Race 1) –Cancelled. this was their Distance Medley series to run a 5K, 10K and then Half. The series was moved then cancelled.

5/3 Margarita Half Marathon–moved to 6/13 and went virtual. Did not run

6/13 Market Square Day 10K–Moved to September virtual only. not running

6/20 BAA Boston 10K (BAA Distance Medley #2)–Cancelled

8/21 – Millennium Anytime 5K! – Did run it in 26:11! Our local running store setup a 5K course around the block with a starting and finishing timing mat. You could go run the course Anytime day or night. I ran it in June at 27:39 so happy with the improvement!

8/29 NH 10-Miler–Offered in person and virtual. Did not run.

8/29 Tour De Fox –New show added! Rode 58 miles on Peloton for Michael J. Fox Foundation! This was my first “tour” where folks stack classes back to back on Peloton. More to follow on Pelo life!

10/11 BAA Half Marathon–(Medley #3 of 3)—Cancelled

10/11 New England Half Marathon – New show added! Live and virtual offered i am thinking to do virtual. Have wanted to do this race for a few years but the dates never worked out. Now i can since my race calendar is pretty wide open due to the pandemic! The medal is pretty cool, in years past it looked like a stained glass leaf for the fall colors.

10/17 PELOFONDO ! New Show added! I will attempt to ride my Peloton for 100 miles in one sitting. Note to self, need to order those padded shorts! More to follow.

10/25 Marine Corps Marathon–Cancelled, virtual only. Deferred it to 2021!

11/26 Portsmouth Local Turkey Trot –probably not.

So I’ve changed direction a bit with my fitness plans but the Comeback Tour is still going strong! Just some new tour dates and new cities, mainly virtual ones or my basement Peloton. More to follow on the blog now that i’ve renewed with WordPress for the year! Stay safe, – Jenn

Boost your mood, help a vet!

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Ah, want to boost your mood?  Be charitable, be grateful, give to others.  I have a great opportunity for you to help military veterans and families of the fallen through the Travis Manion foundation (see what i did there?)

This Sunday, 10/28, I will be running the Marine Corps marathon in Washington, D.C. and I am raising funds for Travis Manion.   Consider a donation of any amount to my fundraiser here.       https://donate.travismanion.org/jenn 

2013 Marine Corps Marathon

fundraising-meme

thank you for considering!

Follow my instagram for minute by minute marathon weekend updates.

– Jenn

Lucky week 13

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Got off to a great start last week. Thought about going for a perfect week of exercise but Friday I just couldn’t rally. Saturday I was at the kids swim meet all day so we shall consider that a 2-day rest up for my 20-miler. My training plan is off from what I wanted to do but with two 20 milers done, I think I’ll be fine. I’ve been better trained and less trained before. This ain’t my first rodeo as they say.

This week’s baking challenge: none. We did not do any baking 😦

Here’s the training rundown

Planned/ actual miles: 27 / 32.8

I plan for 27 every week, I suppose I should change it for long run weeks. I do like beating my artificially low goal tho

Monday. Nice easy 5 miles on the treadmill after the Maine Half. Catching up on the Affair on showtime. Can I just say how can do much stuff happen to 1 person. It’s getting a little ridiculous in season 4.

Tuesday. Killer workout at Orange Theory. Top 5 highest calories. They changed the formula for the heart rate monitors that should (allegedly) help women achieve more calories burned or more accurate calorie count. I’ve always come in on the low side for calories and time in the “orange zone” (HR above 84% max) but I also have super low resting HR and blood pressure. It takes a lot to get into the zone. I should dig into the science more but for now just try and kill it when I’m at OTF.

Wednesday. Treadmill track workout. 10 x 400M intervals with 200M ish rest in between. The hardest part is keeping track how many I’ve done. I actually bring pen and paper on the treads.

Thursday. Note to self, don’t be late for the tornado. OTF sometimes has the tornado workout and I walked into it 10 mins late due to just losing track time at the office. In the tornado, you rotate every 1-3 minutes between treads, rowing and floor work. It’s fast switching or rotating, hence the name tornado. I got a pretty good workout once I got into the flow.

Friday and Saturday, OFF. Taking some rest days to handle my other life events and issues.

Sunday. The long run, 20 miles.

I drag my feet so much about the long run.  My best approach is to do it Saturday morning and get it over with as early in the weekend as possible.  this cuts down on the sense of dread, fretting about my outfit, planning the route and all that goes through my mind.  It’s true, i don’t love the long run but i did it, yay me!  I left the house and decided to do an out-n-back run from downtown.   I lean toward point to point from the house if i can get a ride home after.   There are fewer short cuts when i run from A to B than if i am doing a loop, i can always bail out and cut short the distance.

The weather was actually nice, some clouds moving in but 60s and i was fine in my tshirt.  I took the Camelbak again and this time i drained it by the time that i reached town.  Waves at the beach were high and alot of surfers out there (not pictured on this beach but they were a few miles back at another popular surf beach).

I’m feeling pretty ready for Marine Corps. This has been a decent training cycle and look, i even got my blog back up and running for my 3 followers and a few bots! Yay!

see you out there,

-Jenn