It's Official!!

Well, it's official! Here is a screen shot of the acceptance email I got the other day from the Boston Athletic Association confirming my spot in the 2011 Boston Marathon!

This is all so surreal. I still can't believe this is actually going to happen!

I can't believe it's February already.

It's such a cliche, it hurts my fingers to type this, but it feels like just yesterday that I was sitting at the two mile mark of last year's marathon with my buddy Rori. We were talking about how we would love to run it ourselves someday. Rori said, "dude,  you'll be running this race next year." Of course I laughed at him because of the absurdity of that statement.

Now I'm registered, and the race is less than 3 months away!

The Fundraising

Unfortunately, I came up with the big goose egg last week on the fundraising side of things. (I guess it's bound to happen every now and then). I did manage to stir up a little bit of publicity for the Run for the Memory crew though.

On Thursday, a friend of mine tipped me off that the local paper was doing a story on people training in the harsh winter conditions for the Boston Marathon. I gave the writer a call and chatted with her a bit. The paper ended up sending a photographer out to our saturday long run and we ended up on the front page!

I even had a few quotes in the story.

This past Sunday's front page of the Metrowest Daily News

That's me all the way to the left with safety vest thingy on!

You can check out the whole story here

The Training

47.5 Miles

Once again I had two new personal bests this week. I did my longest single run (16.25 miles), and also did my highest weekly mileage total at 47.5 miles. I ran 3 miserable treadmill runs during the week and two fantastic group runs over the weekend. 

I don't know what it is about the treadmill that makes me have so much trouble. I feel like I can't get a good stride going until I'm 4-5 miles into my run. I just feel awkward on that thing. In it's defense though, I truly believe that doing those midweek miles on the treadmill instead of on the pavement is really helping my knees and ankles stay strong for the weekend long runs.

So for now, the treadmill stays part of the plan.

Saturday Long Run

16.25 Miles

Hopkinton to Ashland portion of the marathon course.

This week, the Run for the Memory crew moved to a new location for our weekly long run. We had been concentrating on the mid section of the marathon course for a couple of months with a particular focus on Heartbreak Hill.

Now we have moved to the beginning section of the course.

From what I'm told, the first half of the marathon is a long gradual downhill run with lots of rollers. (gentle ups and downs.) Because the organizers of our group seem to love to dish out pain for breakfast on saturdays, our plan was to start about 3 miles into the course at Ashland Middle School and run back UPHILL to the starting line in Hopkinton. We would then turn around and head back out to the cars for a 6 mile loop.

When the day started, I wasn't planning of doing more than one loop. Instead, I was going to make saturday a shorter day and do my long run with the Soup Group on sunday. (I may have been a little afraid of the hills). When we finished the first loop though, I found myself having a quick drink with everyone and heading right back up the hill again for a second loop. And then again for a third. (ok math geeks, on the third loop we didn't quite do the whole thing.)

By the time we were done, I had done 16.25 miles at a pace of 8:31/mile. 

If I can do anywhere near that kind of pace for the marathon, I will be ecstatic! 

Here are some shots from the run.

The Run for the Memory crew meeting at getting ready to go at Ashland Middle School.

A quick group shot before heading out.

Yup, you're seeing that right. For those of you not in New England, those snowbanks are up to our chests!

Sunday Soup Group

6.7 Miles

This week, the Soup Group ran the 15k Boston Marathon Tune-up course in Upton. This race is put on every year by the Tri Valley Frontrunners. (the club I belong to.) The race happens in early April about two weeks before the marathon.

Sticking to my plan of shorter recovery runs on sundays, I went onto MapMyRun and figured out a way to shorten the course down to about 6.5 miles. Dave Soligon, who also does his long runs on saturdays, did the shorter loop with me. We did the first 3 miles with the group and then split off and headed back towards the cars while the group continued on.

Because I was in a hurry due to an afternoon photo shoot, I rushed over to get a few nice photos of the soup, have a quick bowl for myself, and head home to shower. It was a shame that I didn't get to hang around for my traditional "second bowl" because this week's soup was a gem!

The Payoff!

Once again, Nick Julian and his wife Nancy hosted this weeks Soup Group.

Here is a shot of their culinary creation, Chicken and Sausage Stew with Oven Roasted Potatoes

(see recipe below!)

Chicken and Sausage Stew with Oven Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients

2TBS olive oil

5TBS butter

2 Lbs. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs in 1inch cubes

8oz andouille sausage sliced into rounds

1 onion, diced

1 habanero chili sliced very thin. Discard seeds.

Zest of one orange

2 garlic cloves minced

2 carrots sliced into thick rounds

1 small fennel bulb trimmed and sliced

Fresh thyme to taste

2 bay leaves

5 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup white wine

Oven roasted potatoes

In a pot on medium-high heat, melt 4 TBS of butter in 2 TBS evoo. When butter starts to brown start adding the cut up chicken in a single layer to brown, you may need to do this in stages so as not to crowd the chicken. Brown on all sides , about 8min. Add the andouille and cook it for about 2 min, remove the meat to a large dish and set aside.

Add remaining butter to the hot pot, add the onion,garlic, carrot, fennel, thyme, habanero pepper, and bay leaves and cook over medium heat until onions are translucent, about 20 min.

As the veggies are cooking, pour the chicken stock into a large pot. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low.

When veggies are done, add the orange zest to the pot along with the reserved meat and juices. Mix well, add the flour and stir to coat veggies and meat. Cook for 2 min. Now add the wine sir and cook for a min, the soup will thicken noticeably. Add the warm chicken stock to the pot one cup at a time, stirring as the stock is added. Once all the stock is in the pot bring the stew to a simmer for 20 min. 

Ladle stew over roasted potatoes and serve.

Roasted Potatoes

10 medium or 25 small red potatoes diced

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

In a large bowl, toss the potatoes, evoo, salt and pepper together to coat well. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet, roast for about 20 min until the potatoes are browned and fork tender. Remove from the oven and use for a bed for the stew.

Thanks Nick and Nancy!

Soup Group Face of the Week

Dave Soligon

This is Dave's first year with the Soup Group. In fact, it's his first year of serious running!

He is one of the Soup Groupers running in the 2011 Boston Marathon and is raising funds for Dana Farber.

That's it for now!

Easy like Sunday Morning.

Ok, I've been wanting to use that title for a while, but it's a big lie. 

You've fallen for a ruse.

Mileage wise, I did back off a bit this week, but all of my runs were tough. 

The toughest of which was...

wait for it....  

on sunday morning.

More on that later.

The Fundraising

I didn't have a whole lot of action in the fundraising department this week, but I did have one nice donation come in from glass artist Jenn Goodale.

Here are a couple of shots from the shoot I did for her in exchange for her donation.

If you like what you see, please support her by checking out more of her work on her website.

Glass Sculpture by Jenn Goodale

Corked Glass Bottles by Jenn Goodale        

The Training

32 Miles

As I started to say earlier, I backed off on the mileage quite a bit this week. This wasn't so much intentional as it was a result of crappy weather. Thursday's snow threw a monkey wrench in my home schedule, so I ended up completely missing my run. 

Saturday Long Run

12.25 miles

Another saturday, another freezing cold start to my weekly long run with the Run for the Memory crew! It's funny, but the cold is actually starting to become a non issue. That first mile or so is always a bit rough on the extremities, but before you know it...  nice and toasty. The only thing that keeps me off the road now is actual snow. It's a pain in the ass to run on!

This week we met at the top of Heartbreak Hill as normal, but because of the road conditions, we varied our route a bit. We descended and then climbed back up Heartbreak from both directions! The run ended up being a couple miles shorter than I was originally planning, but it was much tougher because of all of the extra hills.

The infamous Michelle Gonzales from the Alzheimer's Association made an appearance and ran 8 miles  with the Run for the Memory crew this week! 

Sunday Soup Group

10.2 Miles

This week, the soup group met in Douglas, MA for a 9 mile run. When I woke up in the morning I didn't think I would have too much trouble doing the full run because of my shorter than normal run on saturday. As we drove into town though, I started to get nervous. Hill, after hill, after hill. 

Some silly part of my brain still held out hope that the course would be flat. I did my normal 1 mile warm up and then headed out with the group.

This run was by far the hilliest that I've done yet. By the last 3 miles, my legs were screaming! I'm sure that if I hadn't done 12 miles the day before I would have had an easier time with it.

When it was over though, I felt great about doing back to back TOUGH 10+ mile runs!

Not to mention, it was time for soup!

The Payoff

Chili made by this weeks host Rob Rose.

I've had some requests for the recipes for the soups you've been seeing here, so I put in a request to all of our runners/chefs to supply me with the recipe when not legally obligated to do otherwise.

Here's Rob's recipe for this week's Chili.

Crock Pot Chili 

Ingredients: 

• 2 pounds lean ground beef

        • 1 cup chopped onion    

        • 1 large green bell pepper, seeded and diced

• 1 jalapeno pepper

• 1 tablespoon chili powder

• garlic powder to taste

• salt to taste

• pepper to taste

• 1 teaspoon sugar, or to taste

• 2 cans (approx. 16 ounces each) crushed tomatoes

• 1 can (16 ounces) tomato puree

• 1 can (16 ounces) kidney beans

• 2 cans (approx. 16 ounces each) chili hot beans

Preparation:

Brown ground beef. Saute chopped onion and green pepper in grease. Mix beef, onion and green pepper. Add spices; let stand 1 hour. Add tomatoes, tomato puree, beans; Cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 9 hours. Even better flavor refrigerated and reheated the next day.

Serves 8.

Soup Group Face of the Week!

Rob Rose is a new Soup Grouper this year and this weeks host. He has run 5 Half Marathons and plans on running as many half and full marathons as he can in the future!

The Long Road Begins.

On the Home Front

Last Monday was my son Max's first birthday! Kate made him a little cake and let him go to town on it. I haven't posted any shots of my little guy since the first entry of this blog, so I thought this would be a good time for a couple shots!

Loving Mom's cake!

Officially finished with Mom's Cake!

The Fundraising

This week was a little bit slow on the fundraising front, but I did have one nice donation come in at the end of the week. On Thursday I was contacted by Architect Paul Rovinelli about some photographs of mine from a This Old House story that I shot in 2009. As the architect on the job, he wants to use the photos for his website and portfolio.

Here's a shot from the story. 

The Training

46 miles.

Well, I think it's fair to say that the training is completely back on track now. This week marked two personal bests for me, running both my longest single run (16.1 miles), and my highest weekly total mileage ever! (46 miles)

This week also seems to have been the week where I will have to start tapering back on my mileage for the Sunday Soup Group runs. My Saturday Long Runs are just getting too long to expect much of myself the next day. This week I subconsciously tricked myself into doing only six miles on Sunday (more on that later), and it worked out pretty well.

Saturday Long Run

16.1 Miles

When the alarm clock started chirping at 6AM this morning, I groaned and hit the snooze button. At 6:09 when it chirped a little more mockingly, I got mad and dragged myself out of bed and put on my running clothes.

With one cup of coffee down, and a full travel mug in hand, I stepped out my front door into a wall of freezing cold. Even the car seemed to protest, turning over a few extra times before coming to life.

My plan today was to run 14 miles with the Run for the Memory team at our normal "Heartbreak Hill" route. In truth, it was so cold, I was wondering if many people would show up, but that's never a problem with this crew. About 15 of us plus our fantastic coach Rich showed up.

Heading out down Heartbreak, the group was pretty quiet. The temp was a whopping 1 degree. I couldn't help but notice that the other runners passing in the opposite direction all seemed smiley and chatty, enjoying their runs. It was actually pretty funny to see the frost built up on their hats and facial hair. (on the guys at least!)

After a couple of miles, we all started warming up too. The chatting and laughing began.

We split into two groups. One planning ten miles and the other planning sixteen. I really wanted to get in my first ever fourteen miler, so I stuck with the group doing sixteen with the intent of turning around at the 7 mile mark and heading back on my own. When the time came though, I felt really great and didn't feel like running alone, so I just kept on with them.

Its amazing how running with a group can motivate you! I had no idea I was ready for a 16 miler, but I finished and finished strong, extending my longest ever run by almost 3 miles! I think I can honestly say that when properly rested and fueled, the cardio seems to be a non issue now. It's all just a matter of keeping my mind and muscles from falling apart when the runs get long.

Here are some quick shots from the pre-run.

Brent, who is evidently a little more excited than the rest of us.

The coat comes off!

Getting ready to head out.

Sunday Soup Group

6 miles.

After such a long run on Saturday, I wasn't sure what, if anything, I would be capable of on Sunday. I felt pretty good when I woke up though, so I packed up Max and brought him over to Grandma's house, then headed down to meet the guys.

This week's planned distance was 8.5 miles with the normal 1-2 mile warmup for those who wanted to do it. I definitely didn't want to do any extra, so I stayed in the warm house waiting main loop to start.

About two minutes before we were going to take off, one of the guys looks down at my feet and says, "hey man, are you wearing two different shoes?" I look down and, what do you know? Two different shoes. 

So a little bit pissed at myself, and a lot embarrassed, I jumped in the car and shot home to change one of my shoes. (I've been bouncing back and forth between my New Balance shoes and my Brooks to see which I prefer, but I don't think I'm supposed to wear both!)

Pretty embarrassing start to the day when I showed up to the soup group run with two different shoes on!

Anyway, I think it was all for the best because I came back and did my own run, going a bit shorter so I would still finish with the other guys. I ran six miles and they were TOUGH!!

I think from now on, the Soup Group run is going to have to serve as a recovery run for me. I'll probably keep it between 5 and 7 miles, which means I'll probably be running by myself a lot, but the soup is worth it!

And speaking of the soup....

The Payoff!

This weeks soup was Tony Miele's Spicy Beef Stew.

Thanks to Tony and his family for hosting this weeks Soup Group!

Soup Group Face of the Week

Tom McMullin

Tom McMullin joined the Soup Group during his winter break form college. He heads back to
school this week after banging out a 13 mile long run yesterday. He's racing in a 1/2 Marathon soon and
I'm guessing that a full marathon is not far behind! 

And last but not least, I just had to post this shot of "Slick Nick".  I'm not sure if he just ran 6 miles or played a 3 set shot at CBGB's!

That's all for now....

Holidays in the Rear View Mirror!

    Well, the holidays have come and gone, and as I suspected, my nice little weekly routine went completely down the drain! In some ways, there was no avoiding this as Christmas and New Years Day both fell on Saturdays. My saturday long runs with the Alzheimer's association were consequently moved to Sundays, which created a scheduling conflict between my two running groups.

None of that really mattered in the end though, because I missed all of my group runs both weekends! The good news is that even though I missed my scheduled long runs, I still made my weekly mileage both weeks and managed to come out of the holidays LOSING a couple of pounds!

A Sad Note

Last week, some waste of oxygen broke into my car and stole my two small cameras that I use for documenting my personal life. (including most of the photography you see in this blog). Both the small camera that i carry on my bike and in my fuel belt while running as well as the nicer compact camera I use for the portrait and food photography you've been seeing are now gone. 

So onward we go.....

The Fundraising

I did manage to have some nice activity on the fundraising front over the holidays. First there was a flurry of personal donations from a few friends just before Christmas. Huge thanks go out to the Gianakis Family, the Girouard Family, the Brooks family, and to Margaret Cedrone for their generous contributions!

I also had some nice "donation for photography" exchanges over the last couple of weeks.

Miele Law Group

First, one of my fellow "Soup Groupers", Tony Miele, made a very nice donation in exchange for a quick photo shoot of the members of his Law Group. Here's a shot from the photo session.

Check out his group at www.mielelawgroup.com

 Tony Miele and the Miele Law Group

Nature's Design Florist

Earlier this week, I was contacted by a florist who had done the flowers for a wedding I recently shot. She loved the photography, and well, you can see where this is going.

Thank you to Elizabeth at Nature's Design for her contribution! Here's how to find her http://www.naturesdesignstudio.com/

A shot of mine from a recent wedding featuring the work of Nature's Design Florist.

The Training

2010

2010 is over and the numbers are in! I ran 950 miles over the course of the year, averaging about 2.6 miles each and every day during 2010. Not bad for a guy who started running in November of 2009 struggling to run a mile without stopping!

Racing

After a 3 month hiatus from racing, I have set myself a pretty rigorous race schedule for February. I'll be doing the Run leg in a winter triathlon on the 13th. (only 5k, but all in snow!) Then on the 20th I'll be doing the Foxboro 10 Miler, and on the 27th, the Hyannis Half Marathon. 

I'll let you know how they go!

This Week

There's not really too much to report on the general training side of things for these past few weeks. As I noted before, the scheduling got a little mixed up over the holidays, but the miles got logged, and thats the important thing.

Soup Group 

Things got back on track for me this week and I made it to the Soup Group run in Medway. The planned run was 8 miles, but because I've missed my long run for the last 2 weeks, I decided to go early and log some extra miles. We had a record turnout, and I finished my run with 12.6 miles at a pace of 8:42/mile.

The run finished at Dave Soligon's house where his girlfriend Karen had this weeks payoff waiting for us!

The Payoff!

This weeks host was Dave Soligon whose girlfriend Karen made this wonderful chicken, white bean and vegetable soup!

Soup Group "Face of the Week"

Mike McMullin. A regular with the group who had his first 8 mile run since he was 

a "young guy" this week. Nice job Mike!!

Thats it for now!