Coach Jen B

Brian @ Pavement Runner called upon runners worldwide to come together 1 week after the horrific events that took place at the Boston Marathon. I had been wanting to do something, anything for Boston.  When I saw Brian's post, I knew that organizing #BostonStrongGardiner was exactly what I needed to do.   photo courtesy of Harold Shaw When Monday night came, I didn't know what to expect.  I was completely overwhelmed by the turnout.  We had over 70 people come out to show their support.  My family, the Rail Trail Girls came out with their families to run and Harold from Veteran Runnah .  I even had friends drive over an hour with their families to come and run.  It was an amazing turnout. photo courtesy of Ward and Wade Boudreau One of the runners who came out Monday night is a local sports columnist, Scott Martin.  I've been following him on twitter and I'm "friends" with him on DailyMile, but Monday night was the first...

As you are heading out of the door for your run, what are your essentials? It's going to be different for everyone.   We all have our own personal list of essentials when it comes to working out.   Even Ward (aka Mr. Running With The Girls) and I have differences.   Ward wears glasses and contacts, really depending on the activity or how his eyes are feeling.   casual Ward - definitely not running Ward But for running, he definitely prefers his contacts .  He's run 5 marathons in the past few years, and he always makes sure he wears his contacts for his races and training runs.   Mr. & Mrs. Running With The Girls While I don't wear contacts or glasses, I couldn't imagine wearing glasses when running.  It's already frustrating for me to run in sunglasses.  They are always moving around, fogging up.   They are really just plain annoying.   So, I asked Ward, what about contacts makes them so...

Last Sunday the Boudreau's and our friend, John, loaded up two cars and headed south for the Boston Marathon.  Once we got to Boston, our first stop was the Boston Marathon Expo. Our proud 2013 Boston Runners here - Ward and our friend, John.   And then I finally got to meet Lisa at Run Wiki !  She is just as beautiful in person as she is on her blog.  I wish we could have spent more time with her.  She was so incredibly sweet, ran a great race (BQ'ed again), and she and her husband made it home safely.   And our husbands, Mr. Run Wiki and Mr. Running With The Girls got to talk a bit too.  I think I need to always refer to Ward as Mr. Running With The Girls.  I know he loves it!   Then loaded up in the cars again, got a little lost but then made it safely to Ward and Wade's Aunt Judy and Uncle Pete's house.  By that point, Wade and I still had to run 16 miles, so we set out for our run.  After what seemed like...

My blogging friend at Pavement Runner has started a global event for #BostonStrong runs to take place in cities globally.  Knowing my city and many surrounding towns had many runners who ran the Boston Marathon this past Monday and many of those runners had family members at the race - the Boudreau family included, I knew I had to organize a run/walk for our city. This gathering is not just a run.  It's a community gathering for runners and walkers alike to join together in remembrance of the Boston Marathon tragedy, to honor those who lost their lives, those who lost loved ones, those who suffered from injuries, those who are still fighting for their lives, the first responders, the B.A.A., the city of Boston, and all runners and walkers. Join us for  #BostonStrongGardiner Where: Kennebec River Rail Trail, Hannafor Parking lot, Gardiner When: Monday, April 22, 2013 - 6:00 pm start Who: Anyone who wants: Runners, Walkers, Dogs, Strollers. This is a family friendl...

I recently had the opportunity to review Kona Kase .  If you haven't heard about Kona Kase before, you are really missing out.  Kona Kase was developed by two athletes - John and Taylor - who were tired of eating the same old, same old, and wanted to find fun, new, healthy nutrition to athletes all over the world. source I am always looking for new snacks and foods to try out while training.  To be honest, where I live, we don't have a great variety of sporting stores to go to and get those foods.  My most favorite running store is 25 miles away, which isn't too far, but they are still a smaller store and do not have a huge variety of fuels to try.   I love getting packages in the mail and when they are packed with yummy, healthy fuels I can try out on my long runs, I am a very happy girl.  Needless to say, when my Kona Kase came, I was beyond excited.  I was actually on my way out to take Tucker to get his cast on, so I grab...

What started out as a celebratory kind of day, quickly changed to the kind of day where you hold your family closer than you have ever done before and not let go kind of day. Ward and our friend, John Monday I was one of the thousands of spectators who had a front seat view of the home stretch of the beloved Boston Marathon.  I was there with my kids and brother-in-law.  We were there to cheer on my husband and all of our friends running Boston. we brought chairs along and they were perfect for the kids We got to see the elites go flying by, looking like the running rockstars they are and our amazing troops who make me proud to be an American.  Then we saw Ward and cheered like hell!  He looked freaking fabulous and strong.  I am one proud wife and my kids are in awe of their daddy.  As soon as he ran past us, we grabbed our chairs, the kids, and Wade and I were off to meet Ward at our predetermined meeting spot. Luckily we were abo...

Saucony Kinvara 4s Last week I had a nice surprise waiting for me when I got home from school.   Of course, like any blogging runner, I had to rip the box open, put them on and head out for a run immediately.   I did make a minor error with this and didn’t wear high enough socks, so around mile 4, I had the beginnings of some blisters, but they weren’t major. I wear men’s shoes due to my super wide feet.   The only drawback is that men’s shoes are a bit higher on my Achilles and I’ll get weird rubbing if I don’t wear high enough socks.   Lesson learned.   ProCompression Trainer Socks Ward had been asking for some low compression socks and since he’s running Boston on Monday, I thought I should be nice and get him some socks.   While I was at it, I ordered myself some purple ones.   They are incredible!   They are just a tad higher than no-show socks, but that’s completely okay with me.   Th...

As I was running yesterday with the birds chirping, smell of spring, blue skies, and perfect temperatures - I started thinking about Sugarloaf, which is a little over 5 weeks away.  My mind wandered to the what the weather will be like. Will it be like today?  Yes please! Will it be hot like last year?  Soaring into the high 80s.  Oh god no! Then it dawned on me.  Why was I even thinking about the weather?  It's a marathon.   I'm running it .     It's going to rain.   It's going to pour.   So there you have it.  You don't have to weather watch for Sugarloaf my dear fellow runners.  You will have a rainy day whether or not you are running the 15k or the full marathon - just dress for rain. 

Amanda at Miss Zippy posed this question today - when was your best recent run? My #bestrun was today.  After a weekend of chilly and windy weather, today was a great treat with sunny skies, minimal wind and temps around 60F.  Perfect. I had some steam to blow off today, so I changed my week's schedule about 1/4 of a mile into the run, and decided that today was going to be my tempo run and not the easy 8 miles my plan called for.   Actually, I was quite surprised my legs wanted to move that fast considering the mileage I've been putting on them with the plan.    It's such a great feeling to surprise myself with a fast(er) run when I hadn't been planning on one or didn't think I'd have it in me. And I got to rock my new Best Mode shirt from Carissa & Kyle at Fit2Flex .  Perfect weather, new fun shirt.   When was your #bestrun?  Link up on Miss Zippy's page or share on Twitter!  

Laura at Mommy Run Fast has an ongoing Virtual Race Series.  The requirements are quite simple - run (at least) 5 miles by the 5th of the month and submit your entry.  There are some great prizes as well.  Since I run almost everyday, I knew this would be the perfect virtual series for me.  However, the Hanson Marathon plan I'm using rarely has any runs that are 5 miles.  Thursday's plan called for 10 miles, 6 @ speed.  I also planned on running another virtual race on Thursday, so I thought I'd put them together and have awesome, virtual race day. My friend Amy has a co-worker, Jeanne, who is fighting against breast cancer.  Amy and her friends organized a virtual race to raise funds to support Jeanne.  I hate cancer more than anything so it took me a half a second to sign up for the race.  The runners even got some awesome shirts, so now I have a kick ass shirt too.   Thursday's 10 miles had to be split into two runs, d...

Since Wednesday, we're been blessed with blue skies, temperatures 40F and higher.  This means lots of smiles and great running weather. After being so sick, I've decided to get back into my marathon plan a lot more slowly.  And I'm going to listen to my body.   I don't need anymore setbacks. Wednesday , my first day back to running (again), I went out for 3.5 miles.  It was gorgeous and sunny. Perfect!  I wanted to run further, faster, but knew it wasn't the best idea. Tucker's parent teacher conference was Thursday , so I thought it would be perfect to run from home to his school and just meet he and Ward there.  And I was right.  After taking off quite a bit of time from running, I just about sprinted to his school with a 7:47 average pace for 3.3 miles, and I took a extra loop along the river. Friday , after Tucker had his cast put on, I was able to get out for a 4 mile run, without long sleeves!  Yes - I got to wear a t-shirt ...