Coach Jen B

We're getting there - 19 more days until Reach The Beach .  Last night some of us met for dinner and meeting at the Sea Dog.   Capt'n Fancy Pants - aka Sarah Mr. Fancypants  Considering we team members from all over New England, having 7 out of 12 members make it last night  made for a pretty good turn out.  It was especially nice to meet Eric and Andy in real life since we have been chatting on twitter/facebook here and there. Lauren & Andy  Eric  Capt'n Fancypants was organized out get together and brought along the huge rules booklet . Carrie  Some of the rules to remember: - run on the side of the road with the RTB arrows - easy enough - be quiet during quiet zone hours - okay, I can handle that - no pooping along the road/on people's lawns/etc.  - okay, I get it! I wouldn't want people pooping on my lawn or on the side of the road, but what if I'm in the middle of the woods and really have to go??? & the rules

Suz & Allan over at Cows and Lasers and Everything In Between are currently hosting a virtual run for their niece, friend Jenn, and Suz's mom - all who came into this world as premature babies.  Head on over to their blog to read these amazing stories.  You will tear up for sure. Their stories hit home for me as well.  A very dear friend's baby girl came also came into this world as a premature baby.  Reading these stories brought me back to the day I met A in the hospital.  She was so tiny and incredibly fragile.  My heart ached for her and her family.   She is now a very strong willed 3 year old girl who is indeed a fighter.  I am thankful for having her in our life. Last night Pepper and I went out for another run and I decided that I was going to dedicate that one to Team A.L.I. and our A.   5 miles w/ Pepper - done! Here's hoping Team A.L.I. raised quite a bit of money for the March of Dimes.   Thank you for putting together this virtual race, Suz

When I came home from work and saw the box from Altra – I tore into the sucker like I was a 5 year old on Christmas morning.  I was beyond excited to receive these shoes!  More importantly, I think the fantastic people at Altra knew I am a purple person.  When I saw that they sent me purple Delilahs , I nearly peed my pants in excitement. aren't they beautiful?   And because I have zero patience, I put the shoes on immediately and went for a run.  Dinner could wait.   I didn't want to overdo it, so I went for a quick 3 miler.  I really enjoyed the lightness and the ability to feel exactly where I was landing each foot strike.     I truly have a shoe problem and I love taking pictures of shoes Did you notice that the laces are purple in the picture above?  Yes, in the box was extra pair of laces in purple.  Obviously I was going to be switching out the black laces for purple ones.  A no brainer for me.  I have since worn these shoes for my shorter runs d

As I was heading out for my 8 miler yesterday, I caught a glimpse of Pepper's big, brown, doggie eyes and I couldn't say no to her.  I grabbed her leash and opened the hatch to the good ol' station wagon and in she jumped.  We were off to the rail trail.  I contemplated making the run shorter because Pepper hasn't done 8 miles before.  When we arrived to the rail trail (only a 3 mile drive from the house), I decided we would try for 8 and see where it got us.   My girl started off so strong, she was quite happy to be out with me again.  When we reached the 3 mile point, she still seemed strong and happy, so we continued.  At 3.5 miles, you guessed it, still strong.  When we arrived at the 4 mile point & turn around, we paused for a moment, I patted her and told her how awesome she was.  She wagged her cut lab tail in agreement and then we were off.  Well, sort of.  I forgot to mention, it was windier than ever yesterday and it didn't seem to matter which dire

This past Friday, I took the kids to this cute little beach in Phippsburg.  It's actually called Bate-Morse Mountain Conservation Area or as I've heard it called Morse Mountain.  I don't know why, but I had no idea this place existed.    I need to get out more. We had three busy days earlier in the week in Boston, so what we really needed was a low key adventure day in our own state.     What is it with boys climbing up on huge rocks and insisting on tons of pictures?   What's great about it is that it's a 2 mile hike into the mountain and beach area and then a 2 mile hike back.  The hike isn't challenging at all and the hiking trail is quite wide and easy to walk on.   I did use my Garmin to measure the distance to ease my curiosity and so I could really answer the questions like "how much longer?  are we there yet?"   Since I had never been and I thought I was going for a true hike, I took Izzy and put her in the

Running shoes is hosting a fun contest in conjunction with New Balance.  Visit them to read about spring training, share your tips, and while you are at it, enter the contest !

With Reach the Beach: MA less than a month away, I need to put my energy into getting ready to run multiple legs in a 24 hour period.  Actually, looking our team's spreadsheet - it's more like 30 or so hours, but you get the picture.  My plan is to dedicate two days per week that are back to back to get in three runs within 30 hours.  So far I'm rocking it.  Well, I think so anyway. okay, I know I just used this picture earlier today, but this was after the 5 miles yesterday Yesterday 11 am:  5 mile run (with Tucker biking along) Today 6 am: 6 miles 12:30 pm: 4 miles (with Tucker biking again) Total 15 miles in 25.5 hours.  Not too shabby.   Today was my first double, ever.  Now that Ward is done with Boston and probably not going to train for anything anytime soon - it's all me!  Yeah right.  This little fantasy world I'm living in will only last about a week until he decides he's going to train for something.  I may as well

I was recently given the opportunity to review the Supervisor from Headsweats .  I really enjoy running with a hat.  In the spring and fall, I can get away with running with my hat.  This is perfect for keeping the sun and sweat out of my eyes.  I’ve tried running in sunglasses and either I am challenged in choosing the right running sunglasses or sunglasses are just aren’t for me.  I always seem to find glasses that fog up which is incredibly annoying.  Then there’s the problem of what to do with said glasses when they annoy me.  Do I just toss them on the side of the road? Put them on the top of my head and have them slip around.  No thank you.  This is why I love wearing a hat but my head gets way too hot to always wear a hat.  In comes the Supervisor .  For me, it’s the perfect option.  I have protection from the sun, something to soak up the sweat and there’s this big hole on the top of my head to allow for tons of ventilation and no overheating.  A little b

Early Sunday morning, two cars loaded up with some of my favorite people left Maine for the Boston Marathon experience.  Our first stop was the expo at the Seaport World Trade Center.          After the expo, we packed ourselves back into the cars and set our sights for Ward and Wade's Aunt Judy and Uncle Pete's house just outside of Boston.  While I don't have a lot of pictures of this part, it was definitely one of my favorite parts of our trip.  Great times, awesome family, and a place to sleep and eat = ever grateful.   Thank you Aunt Judy and Uncle Pete! the kids had a blast on the best trampoline ever too Marathon Monday Let me start out by saying every single person who took on Boston on Monday is a ROCKSTAR.  They battled 26.2 miles in the grueling heat.  The newspaper article I just read about the race said that the temps rose to 89 degrees during the race.   Now that's just crazy.  I know there are people who run in hot temperatures all of t