Spring Classic 5K – Falling at the Finish Line

Sunday was the Spring Classic 5K.

Looking back, I should have seen the signs that I shouldn’t have raced: at packet pick up I got hit by a rod iron door handle and got a bruise on my left arm, on the way to the race there was a power failure in Quincy that stopped the MBTA and then the train was “standing by” at Kendall Square. Hindsight is 20/20 though.

I was happy actually running the race, as the photo above shows.

I ran the race in 42 minutes, which is a better time for me than I ran my last 5K in.

Then, at the finish line, I forgot that it was misty out, which would make surfaces slippery. I went to raise my hands in a “who-hoo” above my head motion – and as I did so I slipped on the wet timing mat and ended the race on my butt. I was in pain, but luckily I only have a nasty bruise – not any broken bones. (I am upset that no race volunteers or staff helped me though and I had to find medical attention myself to get an ice pack for the long T ride home.)

Enough time has passed that I can laugh at the fact that the race photographer got the whole thing on film: (My husband calls the 1st fall photo “Something’s Clearly Wrong!”)

Some days, you cheer at the finish – others you quite literately fall, but you keep going.

It still hurts for me to sit and run, but once I’m healed I’ll keep up the 5Ks and race Color Me Rad with my brother at the end of May.

Soulcycle

On Saturday, I got to try out the new Soulcycle location in Chestnut Hill thanks to Sweet Green Passport program.

I’m glad I tried it, but I don’t think that style of spin class is for me.

For starters – I arrived at class just when it started. (Darn GPS taking me a round about way from my house. I’d left an hour before a trip google maps said would take 20 minutes and still needed the full hour.) The room where the class is is very dark, so even though I was being lead in by a staffer, I wasn’t comfortable. My bike seat ended up being way too high for me.

The class has a lot of standing and pedaling, which is OK, but not my favorite spin move.

Then, the instructor got a little crazy and started spraying water from her bottle on people taking the class. I wear glasses so I worried water would get on them. It did & I tried to wipe it off with a towel.

I understand why others would be addicted to a class combining spin, yoga, dance moves, and weights – but I wasn’t a huge fan.

 

I’m a Sweat Pink Ambassador

I’m excited to announce that I’ve just been accepted into the Sweat Pink Ambassador program!

 

I’ll let you know when I participate in Sweat Pink events.

What is Sweat Pink?

We believe that kicking ass is best done in pretty shoes. We’ve learned that real women sweat, and sweat hard. We know that assertiveness, strength, and ambition are the ultimate feminine qualities. We concede that sometimes it takes hours to get ready, but we’re also no strangers to just rolling out of bed and going. We’re convinced that we run faster in pink shoelaces. We believe in pushing ourselves, and we believe in giving ourselves a break, too. We’re all about the rush of endorphins and the thrill of the challenge. We’re all for looking great and feeling even better. We’re committed to finding our best fit, and making it stick.

We sweat pink.

Still Plateauing & It’s Maddening!

I’m getting a little frustrated with gaining and losing the same 2 pounds over the last 5 months. I’ve been following Weight Watchers points plus program and attending meetings since November 2012.

My weight gain this week brings my total lost down to 23 pounds.

As you can see in the chart below (and you know from reading this blog) I’ve been keeping up my fitness level, but it’s lead to gains, not loss in weight.

To say I’m frustrated is an understatement.

Aside from not losing weight this week, my Weight Watchers meeting was a bit frustrating for me on Tuesday. I’d brought my B.A.A. 5K medal with me, because I wanted to talk about it as a non-scale victory, but I was never given a chance to bring it up.

Instead, the leader harped on “what are you going to do TONIGHT to be more mindful about your eating”. The night of the meeting, I was having dinner at a Boston Women Communicators meeting. Since I’m President of that group, I welcome everyone to the meeting. So, after selecting lots of veggies on my dinner plate, the most “mindful” eating I have is to ask a table mate to keep my dinner from being cleared away while I’m speaking.

I know from being employed by Weight Watchers as a meeting Leader in the past that each meeting does have a set topic, but Leaders should also be able to respond to whatever weight loss issues are brought up in the meeting room. I’m thinking of going to try out a different meeting with a different Leader. I don’t know what else to change.

Friends and readers who follow Weight Watchers, do you have any suggestions for me about how you keep motivated while plateauing?

I have been to my doctor to have my thyroid levels checked, but don’t have the results from that yet.

Earn Easter Calories – Spin Class at Flywheel

 

 

 

 

Flywheel Boston was running a promotion on Easter Sunday that if you were in a class that day, you had a chance to win a 10 class pass.  That was all the push I need to sign up for a 10 AM class.

The MBTA was running a little slower than I’d have liked, so I had a quick pre-spin class sprint through the Prudential Center to get to the class on time. (oops)

My legs were a little tired from running a 5K the prior day, so I didn’t push myself, but I’m still glad I attended. The workout earned me 2 of 6 Weight Watchers activity points I’d earn by the end of the day. (Which I appreciate on a holiday weekend so I don’t worry about splurging on some foods I only get to try over holidays – like my Great Grandmothers “potato pie” recipe.)

I didn’t win the 10 class pass, but that was OK.

The Prudential Center is very close to the Boston Marathon finish line, so I walked there after class, earning some good karma by helping some lost tourists on the way. (The day before the Marathon, Boston has a bunch of race related out of town guests.) I also grabbed some items to bring to the 2 Easter dinner parties I’d be attending later that day at the Trader Joes on Boylston Street.

It’s a wicked fun atmosphere in that part of Boston so close to the marathon. Even the air feels full of excited anticipation!

 

B.A.A. 5K – An AMAZING Experience

It’s 2 days post race, and I’m still on a runners high from the Boston Athletic Association 5K race on Saturday!

It was just amazing. I knew this race was going to have more runners than any race I’d been a part of before – but there were over 8,600 runners this year!

As I got in the corral to get ready for the race start, I was in awe of how many were running to prove we are Boston Strong! (Many Boston Marathon bombing victims had teams in the race, and one who had lost a leg from the bombing raced in a wheelchair.)

Here’s a photo of me just before the race start (36 degrees):

It was pretty emotional to be part of this group of runners but also inspiring. I cried tears of joy at many points on the route.

The coolest part of this race is that it brings runners over the Boston Marathon finish line. As I crossed that line, I threw my hands up and jumped. I’m hoping a race photographer got a photo. I figured, I’m not going to ever be a marathon runner, so I should enjoy running across the Boston Marathon finish line while I had the chance.

The actual finish of the 5k was at the Boston Common. My husband Dave snapped a picture of me just before the finish:

I was still having a wonderful time and giving thumbs up. 🙂 The temperature had climbed to 50 degrees by this point so that’s why I tied my jacket around my waist.

Here are my race results:

Net Time 43:19
Overall 8226/8640
In Gender 4806/5109 (Female)
In Division 944/969 (F25-29)

I wish I’d run a little more of the course to get under 40 minutes, but it was still an amazing race that I’m proud I was a part of.

My friend Jess (who’s running the Boston Marathon as I type this – go Jess!) was volunteering at the B.A.A. 5K food tent so Dave got a picture of us together and me beaming with my medal.

 

Post race, I walked to the Hynes Convention Center to browse the running expo. I couldn’t stop smiling. I love being a part of “Boston Runs as One”. (It says that on the back of my BAA 5K medal.)

 

I changed out of my running clothes when I got home, but proudly wore my BAA 5K medal the rest of the day (even out to dinner with my parents and an Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra show that night – benefiting One Fund Boston).

Anticipating Race Day for BAA 5K & Boston Marathon 2013 reflections

I’m wicked excited to be running the B.A.A. 5K on Saturday morning. B.A.A. is the organization that puts on the Boston Marathon.

The race has been getting a little bit more attention than it usually does, because a team of runners will be a part of it, raising money for the Foundation for the Richard family (Boston Marathon victims – 7 year old Martin died,  7 year old Jane lost a leg, Mom – Denise – lost vision in her right eye from shrapnel, Dad – Bill – has hearing damage and shrapnel wounds, and 11 year old Henry escaped the shrapnel but has to live with what he witnessed). The Boston Globe has written 2 articles on the Richard Family that I highly recommend: Part 1 – For Richard family, loss and love & Part 2 – For Richard family, finding strength.

I’ve been having a little bit of a hard time with the 1 year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing, so running in the BAA 5K is my own way of being “Boston Strong”. My friend (and Boston marathon 2014 runner) Jess L. will be at a water stop at mile 1 so it will be nice to see her!

I had a doctors appointment yesterday (just a check up) and I thanked my doctor for seeing me last year on April 15. You see, I was her last appointment of the day before the bombing occurred. I hadn’t gone into Boston to cheer my friends who were running the race for charity because I had that afternoon doctor’s appointment in Chestnut Hill. I remember hearing some odd reports on the radio as I drove home from the appointment and calling my husband to say, “Turn on the TV and tell me what’s going on. I think something bad just happened at the marathon.”

Once I returned home, I helped track where the runners for the nonprofit I work for were. (They were all safe but one really scared us because he didn’t check in with us till a day after the attack. He was near the finish when it happened. so he saw it. His phone was in a bag that he’d checked before the marathon and it took him a day to get the phone back and charged.)

I cried and hoped that I didn’t know anyone who was hurt. Social media was a great savior that day. Friends who were running were all OK. Some had been stopped before finishing. One friend’s last picture posted to Facebook was them watching the marathon at the finish line. Thankfully, the friend left minutes before the bombing. She still gets chills thinking of that day and how close she was to evil.

Everyone who lived in MA walked around in a fog for at least a week after the attacks.

But we united quickly to support the victims, donating to One Fund Boston and shouting “Boston Strong”.

And Monday, the Boston Marathon will be run again, with a bigger field of runners than ever before. I’ll be working from home, watching TV coverage of the race, and tracking my friends who are running.

Social Boston Sports – Fit League at Brooklyn Boulders

Last night, I was back at Brooklyn Boulders Somerville for Social Boston Sports Fit League.

This time, the class was broken into 3 sections – working out on the pull up bars/weight room, auto belay climbing, and cardio on treadmills/rowing machine/elliptical.

One of my team members, Jess, wasn’t able to attend last night, so my husband Dave subbed in.

I’m still not comfortable climbing but I got further up the rock wall than I’ve ever been before.

Dave rocked it and got to the top of another wall. (But coming back down on the auto belay shook him up a little. It’s a weird feeling of a few second free fall.)

I was OK with the session and actually kinda happy that it’s resembling more of the bootcamp type style SBS Fit League has taken in the past. It seems everyone else in the league wants more time climbing though.

As Dave & I were leaving, once of the instructors – Nicole – stopped me to say that “maybe you 2 should go out for a nice dinner when we work on belaying”. I was glad my husband heard her too, because I totally had a moment of “did she just say what I think she said?!” with Dave when she walked away.

We don’t think Nicole meant to be mean or discouraging but that’s how it came out. It was just random of her. She didn’t even see me climbing that night because the auto belay wall had a different instructor! She just saw me not hold well off the workout room wall.

It was discouraging and not what I expected from an SBS league.

Fundraising for the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk

In September, I’ll walk the 26.2 miles of the Boston Marathon route to support The Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

My goal is to raise – $1,500. If you’d like to support me with a donation, you can do so at Danielle Kempe’s Jimmy Fund Fundraising Page.

Last night, my friend Will hosted a Geeks Who Drink Quiz for a Cause for my fundraising in Allston at White Horse Tavern.

It raised $125 for the Jimmy Fund Marathon Walk. 🙂

Will’s post about the night can be found at Geeks Who Drink – White Horse Tavern – Walk This Way.

Thanks to everyone who donated! You don’t need to be a doctor to cure cancer & you showed that with your generosity last night!