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!
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| 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....
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| 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!!!
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