Thanksgiving week training and eating!

Well, another good week of training in the books.
My mileage was slightly down this week at about 35 1/2 miles, but that's ok when you consider that just a few months ago I was only averaging 15 miles a week!


Here is some notable stuff from the week...


Thanksgiving Day 5 Mile Road Race


On Thanksgiving morning, my mom and I started what I'm hoping will be a new Thanksgiving tradition.
We ran a 5 mile road race together in Whitinsville, MA. 


I was hoping to break 40 minutes, but just barely missed it coming in at 40:06. I think I could have been faster had I taken it easier in the days leading up to the race, (I ran 8.25 miles on Tuesday and 5 miles wednesday), but I had a great time anyway.


Mom had a GREAT race coming in around 51 minutes!
I'm incredibly proud of her. She's just started running again this summer and is not letting her asthma get in the way of getting back in shape.

Mom finishing her first race in 25 years!

It was nice to see to see my Aunt Nancy (my mom's best friend since they were kids) and Uncle John, along with their son Jeff (who is an amazing runner and came in 30th overall with a time of just under 32 minutes. 6:19/mile!)

From left to right: Jeff,Aunty Nancy,Uncle John,Mom and Me

Saturday Long Run (Nov 27th, 2010)

Saturday brought the weekly "Long Run" with the Alzheimer's association team.

I was looking forward to this run because I needed to burn off the 2 days of holiday gluttony.

I woke up feeling good and met the crew in our normal spot in Watertown.

This weeks crew for the team Long Run

   I'm not really sure what the culprit was, but this ended up being one of the toughest runs I've had in recent memory. I just didn't have it today. Leg pains, huffing and puffing, the whole thing.


I managed to hold on and finish the 10 mile run with the group, but I was feeling pretty beat up by the time I was done. I'm going to chalk this one up to bad eating over the holiday and not enough sleep, and remind myself that the good days only feel good when you have bad ones to compare them to!



Sunday Soup Group (Nov 28th 2010)


To be honest, after yesterday's really tough run, and another night of not enough sleep, I had every intention of skipping the Soup Group run today. When I woke up this morning though, my legs just took me to the "workout drawer" of my bureau and off I went.
I guess I just cant pass up free food!


The group did some trail running today at the West Hill Dam in Uxbridge. This was the perfect run for me because the technical trails mean we are forced to slow the pace down. Also the soft ground versus the hard pavement was a welcome relief.

From left to right: Tom, Jeff and I. Tom is the son of one of our regular Soup Group runners.
He was home for the weekend and led our lead group on the trails.

 I felt 1000% better on this run than I did yesterday. It was nice to end the week on a positive note.


Speaking of a positve note, here is this week's soup!

This weeks soup! Roasted Vegetable and Bison

20 Weeks until Boston 2011!

First week of training in the books!

Well I started off big!
At 38.5 miles, this was my biggest week of mileage since starting running again about a year ago.
The majority of this weeks miles were by myself, but I did get in two group runs.

On saturday the 20th, I met and ran with the Alzheimer's team for the first time.
It was really great to see that I am capable of keeping up with those guys. (for the most part).
It was also very cool to run on Memorial drive in Boston. I'm always so envious when I see all of the runners out running along the river when I'm driving in to work!

I forgot to bring my camera, but I'll be sure to get some photos on future training runs with this group.

On sunday I ran with the "Soup Group"

A few members of the Soup Group!

This was a nice and easy run (6.7 miles, but very slow). These runs are alway great!
They are lead by my friend Joe Hamm who I met earlier this year. Joe is also the guy who convinced me to do the Lowell Half Marathon.

My buddy Joe Hamm

Of course the real selling point to this run is that every week, someone makes a big ol' crock pot of soup. Its a nice way to warm up from the cold winter runs.

The Payoff!

After the run.

How all of this happened!

Well, here it is. My first ever blog post!

This blog is going to be mostly about my training and fundraising efforts for the 2011
Boston Marathon on April 18th.

After a month-long application process, I found out last week that I have been invited onto the Alzheimer's association team for the 2011 Boston Marathon! 

This means that in addition to training on my own,  I will be training with the Alzheimer's team as well as with another group of guys I run with. (The Sunday Soup Group)

Anyone who hasn't been keeping up with me on facebook for the last year or so might be very surprised

to hear this. After all, 18 months ago I was about 35 pounds heavier than I am now and wasn't exercising at all!

Well, here's some background info about how it all happened.....

2010 has been a busy and amazing year for me so far.
The year started out with the birth of our son Max on January 10th.
He's a little over 10 months now, crawling around and climbing all over everything, and has been an absolute blast!

Our little guy! Max Anthony Tieuli.

I've also had a strong building year with my photography business with several large projects for clients
like America's Test Kitchen, The Boston Consulting Group, Simonton Windows, The Healthy Pantry, and Boston Magazine. Although the year isn't over yet, the most exciting accomplishment so far has to be this months cover of Boston Magazine (see below). Its on the racks for just a few more days!

The November 2011 Issue of Boston Magazine

I shot these dishes for a feature story for Boston Magazine's "50 Best Restaurants" story.
They loved the photographs so much they used them on the cover!

Along with the birth of my son, I will remember 2010 as the year that I finally got in shape!
Sometime late last year, after a bunch of hemming and hawing, I was convinced to sign up for a triathlon by my friend Rori.

Up until this point I had only been riding my bike, and not training seriously at all.
I quickly discovered that for me, the trick to sticking with a workout/training plan is to register for races, and then tell people about it!
After spreading the word to a few friends and family members about my plans, I found myself spending the winter on the treadmill and spin bike, trying to lose weight and get ready for the May 9th triathlon that I registered for. There was no way I was going to back out once people knew about it!

The training slowed down a bit when Max was born, but after 6 weeks or so of settling in, I resumed the training and got myself ready.

When race day came, I was both excited and scared to finally see what I could do.
Unfortunately, I never really got a chance because windy conditions forced the race directors to cancel the swim portion of the race, leaving only the bike and run.

It was still fun to compete, but I came home
feeling let down and not able to call myself a triathlete.
My biggest fan didn't really care about that though....

Me and my biggest fan back home after the race.

That night, determined to remedy this disappointment, I registered for another triathlon and set back to training.

About a month later, I competed in the Escape The Cape Triathlon in Onset, Ma, and had a wonderful time.

That was it! The floodgates opened and I went on to compete in 3 more triathlons over the summer.

Along with all the racing, I participated in the "Memory Ride" which is a 100 mile charity bike ride to support Alzheimer's research. I have participated in this event several times in the past, but this year was special because of the loss of my Grandmother Lee to the disease in January.

I really focused my efforts raising money and was able to raise over $6,000 Alzheimer's research!

After my last triathlon of the year in August, a friend of mine convinced me to train for a half marathon in October. At this point I was feeling up for pretty much anything, so I immediately signed up for the Baystate Half Marathon in Lowell.

After 6 weeks of training with some new friends, I competed in the half marathon and finished it easily in 1 hour and 48 minutes.

It didn't take long before I started thinking bigger....

The Boston Marathon is actually very difficult to get into. People may not realize it because on TV it looks like there are a million people running it.
In truth, there are only a couple of ways to get in. You have to either qualify by running another marathon and finishing in a certain amount of time (which I am nowhere near being able to do), or to run it for a charitable organization.
(ok, there are a couple other long shot ways, but I won't get into those here)

My best shot was to contact the Alzheimer's association and see if there were any opportunities to run for them. (considering my past involvement, I thought I would have a good chance of getting one of the 15
numbers alloted to them by the marathon organizers)

With some guidance from Michelle Gonzalez at the Alzheimer's Assoc. headquarters in Watertown, I filled out an application and crossed my fingers!

Last monday I heard back.

Time to start training!!!