Tag Archives: memories

Celebrating 300 Posts!!

Wow – so I can’t believe that today is my 300th post on Eat, Read, Run. I also can’t believe that I started this blog way back in fall 2009. There have certainly been many times when I slacked on blogging or life just got a little too busy and blogging was sort of forgotten. But overall, I’ve kept it going.

Whether I’m posting twice a month or 25 times (how did I do that in the beginning?), I have thoroughly enjoyed keeping this little diary of my life and running. And I’ve loved looking back at past posts and remembering what was going on at that time in my life. For a girl who has a slight short-term memory problem, it’s extremely helpful.

And now, in honor of my 300th post, I’ll share with you XX things you might not have guessed about me…

  1. I will drink red wine all year round – I’m not ashamed. I like it just as much in July as I do in November.
  2. I don’t like dark chocolate. I will choose milk or white chocolate before I even glance at a piece of dark chocolate.
  3. I went through a one-year phase when I didn’t use an iPod when I ran. No music whatsoever. No clue how I did it.
  4. I knew I wanted to qualify and run the Boston Marathon about halfway through my very first marathon.
  5. I qualified for the Boston Marathon at my second marathon and it’s all kind of hazy. It was one of the biggest accomplishments of my life and I relive that race a lot during my long runs.
  6. With the new Boston Marathon standards, I doubt I’ll ever qualify again (my qualification was during the 3:40 and under standards)…but part of me secretly wants to try. 🙂
  7. I swore for years that I would never own an e-reader. My husband bought one for me for Christmas…and I LOVE it and still feel sort of guilty about that.
  8. I work at the ASPCA and it’s literally my dream job. I find myself getting nervous that it really is just a dream every day.
  9. I’m an only child and part of me wants to have like five children someday.
  10. I have an overweight cat. We have him on a diet, but he hasn’t lost much weight.
  11. I say elementary wrong. I emphasize the “a” in the word. I didn’t know this until college.
  12. I can paint a pretty mean french manicure. When I get the motivation to actually do it, people think it’s salon quality.
  13. I have really tiny feet and sometimes it’s hard to find shoes. Size 5 people. I order shoes online a lot.
  14. I’d like to write a novel someday. But it’s pretty intimidating. But after starting 50 Shades of Gray and seeing how terrible that writing is – maybe it IS possible.
  15. John Irving is one of my favorite authors. I’ve heard him speak in person twice. I know some people who hate him and I can’t understand why.
  16. It REALLY bothers me when people spell my name wrong (particularly with an “a” rather than an “e”) and ESPECIALLY when they are responding to an email where my name is in the signature.
  17. Up until about 5 years ago, I thought I didn’t like tomatoes or onions. How did I make dinner ever? And thank goodness I gave them another shot.
  18. Sometimes, I secretly want to live on a farm with a cow, chickens, a giant garden – the whole shebang. In reality, my mother grew up on such a farm and I think she transferred some of this desire to me.
  19. I could eat cheese during every meal of the day. Slightly obsessed.
  20. My husband says that sometimes in the middle of the night, I wake up (well not fully wake up) out of a dead sleep, sit up and start petting and snuggling the cat. Then I just stop and go straight back to sleep.  

And 300 posts later, here I am! I’ve run four marathons, read a TON of books, and eaten very good food. And I’ve got the blog to remind of all of it. And now in honor of my 300th post, I think I’ll go run 6 miles. Okay – there is no choice about it. My training plan tells me I’ll go run 6 miles. 🙂

For you other bloggers – do you enjoy looking back at old posts? How long have you had your blog? Do you think your blogging days will ever end?

And what’s the strangest or a unique thing about you that people probably would never guess?

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My 2011 Boston Marathon Memories

As  my Twitter feed was blowing up today with Boston Marathon updates, I got to thinking about my 0ne and only Boston Marathon experience last year. Humor me for a moment as I share my top 2011 Boston Marathon memories and tips…

2011 Boston Marathon Memories & Tips  

  • The excitement in the air was tangible – I cannot recall another race I’ve run where the whole city was buzzing like this (note: I haven’t run NYC yet, but I expect it will be the same way).
  • I wish I had spent more time in Boston. It was a quick in and out trip for  my best friend and me. We took the train up on Sunday, checked in, went to the expo, ate dinner, ran the race, and checked out and took the train back right afterwards. It felt rushed. If you make it to Boston – don’t rush it. Enjoy it!
  • Make reservations for 2013 like NOW!! No seriously. I tried to make reservations like a month or two in advance and was laughed at. Apparently people start like 6-8 months in advance. We did ok – we tagged along with a smart friend who had made reservations and was able to add two more people. Thankfully!
  • Don’t overeat at the Expo: I did. All the tasty goodies to try and free stuff being given out. Another bite of a yummy bar – sure don’t mind if I do. But then oh – 30 minutes later after all those random snacks are mixing in my tummy and it did not feel good. Enjoy the expo, but don’t enjoy it too much with your tummy.
  • Getting a ride to the start is AWESOME! Our friend’s father was running Boston last year and his wife was driving him to the start. He offered us a ride and at first I declined. Being the paranoid planner that I am, I figured the standard race-issued ride to the start was the safest way to go. My friend convinced me to be a little daring for once and take the ride and it was the best decision ever. We got to sleep in a little  late, didn’t have to wait for hours in the runner’s village and got dropped off super close to the start. Do it if you can!
  • I’ve never been so cramped running – I mean as in having people around me at ALL times. All my other marathons have been pretty small – 2,000 runners or less – so the amount of runners kind of overwhelmed and terrified me.
  • I don’t really remember heartbreak hill. I know that sounds crazy, but I think after all my training on the Central Park hills and the fact that I had NO clue where I was in the race made that hill seem less than intimidating. I saw the sign that said I was over the hill before I even knew I hit it. I wish I was always so lucky when it comes to hills – I’m  not. But heartbreak really isn’t as bad as a lot of people make it out to be – so don’t worry yourself sick about it.
  • I DO remember the Wellesley girls and the deafening roar they made as I was coming around the corner to their section of the race. I was dumbfounded. It was the loudest thing EVER.
  • I wish I had written my name on my shirt. With all those spectators, you really can’t go wrong writing your name on your shirt. My friend had a shirt on with the name of her charity and literally EVERYONE kept cheering for her. I, however, did not hear a single “go girl with the pink shirt.” Names matter. I made sure I had my name on my shirt for my next marathon and it was pretty fun. You feel like you have so many friends. Or you’re a celebrity.
  • I ran with my phone. And it was weird. I wore a spibelt and I’m not quite sure how I was okay with that. I’m a less is more kind of person when it comes to running accoutrements. Most days I want to fling my water belt out the window. So how I managed to run 26.2 miles with a spibelt on that held not only my phone, but two Gus, I will never quite understand. I guess it’s a testament to how comfortable the spibelt is. Kudos spibelt – well done.
  • I ate two huge candy bars after the race. I guess this goes back to my last post and my sugar issues. Obviously this sugar thing has been going on for a while. I remember first housing a snickers bar and then I think it was a Twix. I didn’t even buy the candy bars. My friend had four candy bars for some reason and was kind enough to share them with my hungry eyes. Good planning Lauren – well done. She even convinced me that a snickers bar is like an energy bar because it has so much protein. She didn’t need to sell me – I was gonna eat it no matter what. 🙂

So those are just a few of my Boston memories. What about the course, you ask? Was it hard? Did I hurt? How did I do? I supposed the course was hard, the race was hard, I was in some pain, and I did okay. But for me, the Boston Marathon was so much more than that stuff. It’s an experience I cherished and so maybe I tend to remember random things from that day more than the actual course and race details. So what.

But of course, you can get all of the nitty gritty race details in my recap from last year if you’re really interested.  Happy Marathon Monday!!

Finally, Here Are My 7 Links

So this was kind of a time-consuming post–hence it took me a while to get it all together and up. It involved going back through the past almost two years of posts to select the ones I thought fit best into the 7 categories. I’m just going to jump right in…

Most Beautiful
I don’t know that I would really call any of my posts “beautiful.” I don’t really get very sentimental or poetic on my blog. It’s all pretty cut and dry, with maybe a dash of cynicism and humor. That being said, there is a tie for this category. My Relfections on 2009 post was surprisingly touching to re-read over a year later. It was really nice to look back on 2009 and see all the amazing times we had. You forget about all the events, anniversaries and family moments that were very special.

The second one would be my “Back from Ireland” recap post because the pictures were absolutely gorgeous and we had a beautiful time. I kind of skimped on the recap because I was too exhausted to go through each and every day. But the overall photo recap was amazing.

Most Popular
So this one was immediately evident to me. It was my Poconos Marathon Race Recap. I started my blog just after finishing my first marathon and I quickly decided to run another one and announced it to the blog world. I also announced my HUGE goal that I wanted to try to qualify for Boston. EEK! But once I put it out there, I was more determined than ever. Over the course of the next 6 months, I received so much advice and encouragement from a ton of people online that I kind of knew that my race recap would be my “grand finale” and culmination of all my hard work. The thought of all these people who tried to help me and inspired me really made me push to my limit during the race. And thankfully, I did it. My Poconos Marathon Race Recap was by far my most popular post on my blog to-date. And I still look back to read all the wonderful and supportive comments.

Most Controversial
This one was tough for me. It was a toss-up between my “To Eat Meat of Not to Eat Meat” post and my “Yucky Yogurt” post where I said that I was not a fun of the Yoplait Greek Yogurt–neither the taste or ingredients. In the end, I guess I’ll go with the yogurt post because Yoplait actually contacted me with a coupon to try their new redeveloped and relaunched yogurt a few months later. And if a blog post can get the attention of a company, then I’ll go ahead and dub that controversial.

Most Helpful
Easy one to pick. My “How I Got My BQ” post is without a doubt my most helpful post. People consistently find my blog through this post and have contacted me to thank me for my advice and candid words on the topic of qualifying. I talk about working on speed, tracking your pace, increasing your mileage and paying attention to your food, among other things. I still look back at this post when I find my endurance and speed decreasing and need to pick things up a notch.

Surprise Success
There have been a few posts that received a lot of comments and feedback that have surprised me. I guess the one with the most comments was the “Where Did All The Food Go?” post, where I talked about how shocked I am by the amount of food my husband and I consume in a short timeframe and how much it costs! A lot of people could relate. This post also included a recap of “Angela’s Ashes” so there were a lot of comments for that as well. Overall, it seemed to be a post that many people could relate to and were interested enough to comment.

Not Enough Attention
I don’t know about this one. Who am I to say that I think any of my posts really deserve more (or any) attention? I’m not going to get all serious with this one. Instead, I am going to say that my post “You Know You’re a Winter Runner When…” deserves more attention because I thought it was kind of funny and I really wanted to hear other people’s “you know you’re a winter runner” stories and commentary. I love these kind of posts that point out the hysterical but oh-so-true and ridiculous things about ourselves. I should write more of them… 🙂 Do I see a new blog post forming?! 🙂

Most Proud
I’ll say it yet, again, easy – my “2011 Boston Marathon Race Recap” is the post I am most proud of. I started this blog basically because I had this goal in my head and didn’t know how to get there. I think writing this blog really helped me get there and kept me on track and accountable. It helped me achieve one of my life goals and I am forever grateful. This post also marked my “return” to the blog world after a long hiatus, so I’m doubly proud and thankful I wrote it.


In conclusion – thank you again for tagging me Katie. It was a very nice trip down memory lane. Now I know the rules state that I have to tag other bloggers to post their 7 links, but let’s cut me a little break – ok? I am just returning to blogging, hardly anyone is reading my blog, and the chances that anyone will see this and then post their 7 links is slim to none. So instead, I will say – if you are a blogger and you have NOT been tagged to do this yet, then consider yourself tagged – courtesy of me. But don’t blame me when you lose half your day working on this post. 🙂

Question of the Day: If you’ve done your 7 links, how much time did you spend on it? And did you enjoy your trip down memory lane? Can’t imagine those bloggers with years and years of posts – how did you choose?!!

An Early-Morning Running Revival

I meant to write this post yesterday in the morning, but I ran out of time. Before I get into my Monday recap, here’s another look back at this past blog year from Feb-May 2010.

February
Went to a great Ballet and enjoyed some Greek Food!
I worked from home for the first time ever…and liked it!?
I officially deemed myself a “Winter Runner.”
My 14-Mile Training Left Me Feeling Nervous about BQing.

March
Went to a Blogger Dinner at Caravan of Dreams
My 15-Mile Training Run left me in better spirits.
Went to a Blogger Brunch at Candle Cafe.
Went to some bridal shower and bachelorette fun!
Experienced a SUPER SPEEDY run that left me hopeful!
17-Mile Training Run Success!
Enjoyed some well-deserved “Choice Eats.”
Ran an awful “Worst Case Scenario” Run.

April
Ran my first 10k Super FAST!
I ran my first 20-miler in upstate NY all alone.
Dealt with some major BQ Doubts
Ran my second 20-miler in the pouring rain, but survived!

May
Time to taper and enjoying some wedding fun!
Ran my last longish training run before the marathon.
Enjoyed my 28th Birthday!
Ran the Pocono Run for the Red Marathon and BQed!!
I took a look back at “How I got my BQ.”

It’s actually really good for me to look back at all this stuff to remember how much hard work I put into training for the Pocono Marathon. It will help me to get myself ready for this next round coming up in December.

Even though my “official training” for Boston doesn’t start until December 13, I need to get myself back into shape. So I started moving in the right direction with an early-morning run with Kelly on Monday morning. I managed to get myself to bed by about 10:00 p.m. on Sunday night. Kelly and I live about two avenues from each other, so I started heading her way around 5:30 a.m. and then we took off for Central Park from her area. Here are our stats:

Mile 1 – 9:27
Mile 2 – 8:19
Mile 3 – 8:46
Mile 4 – 8:39
Mile 5 – 9:06
.89 – 8:30

Total – 5.89 miles in 52:50. Average pace – 8:58 minute miles

The run went by really quickly and then it was time to dash around to get ready for work.

Monday was long and exhausting. I first had a pounding headache all day and then that turned into a dull headache. Plus, they are blasting the heat now and that was really getting to me. Our office is either freezing or sweltering.

When I came home last night, I ate dinner and watched some Dancing with the Stars, but then I went to bed at 9:15. I was just too tired. I hope I’m not getting sick.

But I slept great last night and woke up this morning feeling much better. I guess maybe I just needed the quality rest.  And after 8+ hours of sleep, I would hope I’m feeling better! I think I might try getting that again tonight.

What is your bedtime? If you don’t get enough sleep, do you ever feel sick or run-down?

Alright – have a great Tuesday all!

One Year Blog Anniversary!

October was certainly a month of milestones for me. It seems that every year, a new anniversary pops up in October. In 2008, Hubby and I were married in upstate NY on October 18th – an unforgettable and amazing day! That anniversary certainly trumps them all.

Then on October 11, 2009, I ran my very first marathon with my friend Lauren in just under 3 hours and 55 minutes.

And then about a week and a half later, I started my blog and wrote my very first blog post on October 23, 2009! Can it really have been a year already?

So here is a brief look back at some of the highlights of my past year in the blogosphere.

First Blog Year Highlights
I started my blog and right away I had some exciting things to write about, I went to a reading/talk by John Irving in October and listened to the “Legends of the Marathon” talk about marathoning right before the NYC Marathon last year.

In November, I admitted to the blog world that I had been bitten by the marathon bug and had even started thinking about the Holy Grail – qualifying for Boston.

I also went to Jonathan Safran Foer’s Book Reading for Eating Animals and left wondering if I should become a vegetarian. More excitement came when I attended my first blogger dinner and met a bunch of great bloggers and blog readers!

And finally, I ran the Troy Turkey Trot and enjoyed Thanksgiving up at Bill’s parent’s house in Utica.

In December, I met up with a fellow runner and blogger who happened to live right around the corner for a freezing cold run. Then Hubby and I headed to Utica for the Callahan Christmas Party – with lots of food and fun! Then on Christmas, we headed to my parent’s house and I was thrilled to unwrap a GARMIN!!! Wahhoo!

I started 2010 off right with an early January road race…and froze my butt off! A little while later, I made a big decision – to run a Spring 2010 Marathon. I signed up for the Pocono Run for the Red Marathon and created a training plan! And finally, I finished up January with a great half marathon race with my friend Lauren!

Phew – that took a while to go through all that. It’s really fun to look back, but can be a bit time-consuming. So I’ll wrap up the rest of my blog year in my next two posts.

For all the other bloggers out there, how long have you been blogging? Do you enjoy looking back at all the highlights? I love it! And am so happy that I have this catalogue of my life.

Have a great Sunday all!