WOW!

$15,114 raised thus far for DFMC this year!  We're sooo close to breaking $65k for the 5 year total and hopefully we make it.

I'll post more about the marathon and this weekend after I shake this head cold. Ugh, not a fun day-after the marathon, but so glad to have run yesterday!

Fundraising Goal Surpassed!

Wow, earlier this week we hit our $13,100 fundraising goal and then kept on going!  We have raised $13, 434 as of this posting and $62,837 the last five years, 100% of which goes to fund innovative cancer research at Dana-Farber!  There's still time to donate and push this number even higher and I can't thank everyone enough for all the support these last 5 years!

Why I Have Run 5 DFMCs

As many of you know, in April 2012, I ran my first Boston Marathon with DFMC.  It was nearly 90F and quite the challenge, but nothing like the challenges for those battling cancer.  This fact motivates me during the winter training runs and the marathon itself.  So how did I come to run on DFMC?
I ran the NYC marathon in Nov 2011 and decided before the race that if I finished and felt good, I would apply to a charity team for Boston 2012.  I ran NYC on Sunday, on Monday on the train back to Boston decided to apply to DFMC and completed the application on Tuesday evening.  I applied to DFMC as I had done my graduate work next door to Dana-Farber and knew several investigators at Dana-Farber.  I wanted to run for my grandmother, who had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and my great aunt. I wanted to run for an organization that I knew would make the most of my fundraising efforts.

Patient Partner Poster Party, 2012

After applying to DFMC, I was accepted within a week; I then applied to the Patient Partner Program, was paired with RJ and we begun a partnership that neither of us knew would continue for 5 years.

When I first met RJ in 2012, RJ had recently completed his cancer treatment and you would not have known that he had just beaten cancer.  RJ was looking, acting and behaving as you'd expect of any 14-year old.  This was not what I had expected when I applied to the program but as I got to know RJ, his passion for the Red Sox and great outlook on life, I couldn't have been happier to be paired with RJ.  As I spent more time with RJ and his family, I learned more about RJ's illness, his treatments and his Make-A-Wish trip.  I've heard about the great work at Camp Sunshine and the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, both camps for kids coping with cancer and their families.

Undergoing treatment

The biggest disappointment of my 2012 marathon was at mile 25, where RJ was waiting for me.  With the 90F temps, I was a bit out of it and didn't see RJ as I ran up the bridge.  RJ's sister ran up next to me and my immediate thoughts were 'Great, she's running me to where RJ is'.  It didn't dawn on me until we were off the bridge that we had passed all the DFMC fans and I had not seen RJ.  It was the lowest point of the marathon and is still something that I'm disappointed by.  Though disappointed, I had decided before the marathon that I wanted RJ to have the finisher's medal from the marathon.  After beating cancer, he had overcome more than I could imagine and was happy to share the marathon with him in this way.

2016 Poster Party

After the 2014 marathon, our 3rd together, I realized that RJ would be graduating in 2016 and it would be my 5th DFMC.  I knew then that if RJ was in for 2 more years, I would run in honor of him and that's how I've come to run 5 DFMCs and together we've raised more than $61,000 for innovative cancer research!  With these funds and all those raised by DFMC, we can reach the ultimate finish line: a world without cancer!

A few final thoughts to wrap up: I'm so glad to be running for RJ again this year.  His perseverance and positive outlook are something that we can all aspire to.  As an example, this past fall RJ worked with Boston's Mayor Walsh and the City Council to proclaim September to be Childhood Cancer Awareness month.  I got to watch RJ stand by Mayor Walsh's side at the press conference and see the proclamation that RJ received.  As I prepare to run the Boston Marathon in 1 week, I am honored to run for RJ and what he's accomplished.  RJ has motivated me through each of my Boston Marathons and will certainly motivate me again in 1 week.

At City Hall with RJ 

Final DFMC Training Run

With April 18 fast approaching, the final group run of my 5th DFMC is in sight.  This past Saturday was our final group training run and it was a great day to get out and run 8 miles with the team.  We started just before the 15-mile mark on the course and headed down to the Newton Hills.  A teammate wasn't feeling 100% so Amy and I turned back after 3 miles and ran with our friend back to our starting point.  While we didn't run the full set of the Newton Hills, we've had enough practice on them that we'll be ready to go in a week.

After getting back to the starting point, Amy and I continued on for another 2 miles to complete our 8 miles.  It's a good thing we did this as we now know that the town of Wellesley is prepping for the marathon and ensuring us runners don't have to worry about all the pot-holes from this winter! We've also seen the daffodils blooming and hopefully some warm weather this week brings spring into full effect here in Boston.

With our training nearing the end, my fundraising is still going strong and continues past the actual marathon.  This past week though was a great week and we have now raised $11,969!!  An amazing number and just over $1,100 short of the $13,100 goal.  This brings our 5-year total to $61,372!!  Looking back at this experience I'll remember the marathons for certain but I'll also remember the support from so many people that helped raise $61,372 for DFMC and innovative cancer research.  I look forward to seeing what new treatments and hopefully cures come to from Dana-Farber researchers in the future.  Thank you again for all your support!

Tapering in Full Effect

13 days to the marathon and today's run was great!  It was a welcome change to go out, run ~4 miles and be done in less than 40 minutes.  I can't remember the last time I ran this short and thus today's run was quite nice!  Perhaps it was a little too short, but better to not overdo it at this point.

This past Saturday, our long run was also a bit shorter than usual.  We went out to complete 14, but after the first 10 miles, I was happy to reach 12 miles and call it a day.  Though the temp was in the 50s, it was raining the whole time and a bit windy at points, reminiscent of last year's actual marathon.  Running with Amy and Nancy made the run much more enjoyable and the 12 miles was plenty given the day and conditions.

Fundraiser Success!

Thank you to everyone who came out to our fundraiser last night and thank you to those who couldn't make it but donated online!  We have now raised $9,291 this year and $58,694 over the last 4+ years; this success is thanks to every single person that's donated along the way!!  One final thank you goes to the many generous companies that donated prizes for our event:

Aquitaine Boston    Cinquecento    Abe & Louie's    Cambridge.1.
Flour Bakery+Cafe   Grafton Street    The Local
J.P. Licks FanPage    Blue Ribbon BBQ
CorePower Yoga - Boston    Brooklyn Boulders Somerville    ALEX AND ANI
Coolidge Corner Theatre    Boston Duck Tours    Franklin Park Zoo
NE Aquarium    Charles River Canoe & Kayak

Training Done, Taper Begins

Yesterday was our final long training run and we hit the road aiming for 20 miles along the marathon course.  We changed things up a bit and ran with the Nike Run Club for this run.  This was a tough call as the DFMC team means so much to us, but marathon day is so different from our training runs - we're up at 5.30am, head to downtown Boston before taking a school bus to Hopkinton and finally running around 11am.  Fitting with this schedule, we were up at 5.30, took the bus/T down to Nike and then they bussed us runners out to the 4 mile mark of the marathon course where we started our run. While we didn't run the steep downhill from Hopkinton to near Framingham, we did get some work on the downhills and uphills along the way, finishing in Brookline.

Though we didn't start with the DFMC team this run, we ran into a number of teammates along the way.  Just as importantly, we saw many of the DFMC volunteers still working the water stops and supporting not only DFMC runners but all the charity runners that were along the course.  It's estimated that several 1000 runners were along the course training for April 18.  We had a great running day with temps in the 40s, overcast and a mild headwind.  If April 18 is similar, we could have a great race!

This week was also a big week as several additional donations, and 76 donations total, helped bring us above the $8k mark!!  5 years of running with DFMC, every year topping $8k! Amazing and we're close to breaking the $9k mark.  I'm hoping we can top the $9k mark before April 1 and continue right on to our $13,100 goal!

With our major training complete, we still have 3 weeks before the marathon.  I'll begin to taper down a bit, dropping the mileage a little bit each of the next 3 weeks.  I'll focus on some stretching and making sure I get enough sleep so I'm ready to go on April 18 :)

Pace$etter Reached!!

With one last reminder e-mail re our DFMC fundraiser next week, 5 very generous donations were made today and we surpassed the $8,000 mark!  Over $1000 raised in the month of March, more than $57,500 raised in the last 4+ years and there's still plenty of time to reach our $13,100 goal.

Cruise Control

The last few weeks, I've run the weekly long run a bit faster than I really should be.  With a goal of breaking the 4hr mark (still!) this Boston, a good pace is ~9.00min/mile.  This leaves ~4-5mins of cushion for the congestion at the beginning, stopping to see family, RJ and others along the course and the likely slow-down that will come as we hit the Newton Hills.  With this in mind, I should be running the long runs slower than a 9.30min/mile pace but the last few training runs have been at race pace.  I went out this weekend with 1 goal, to run slower and just take my time.  Mission accomplished, running the 16+ miles at a 9.28min/mile.

As always, our volunteers helped us make the run successful.  Team Matty was out there in force with SpongeBob Sq Pants costumes, decorations and music, Matty's favorite cartoon.  Matty Dubuc battled cancer and unfortunately lost his battle on March 25, 2007.  To remember Matty his family will be doing a number of his favorite things on Friday.  As part of the water stop, they had a number of Matty's favorite things for us runners to pick and also do this coming week.  I get to enjoy some skittles, starbursts or sweetarts :)

We had a great day for the run and made it through the 16 miles without issue.  With our longest run of the season this coming weekend, it will be a week to ensure I don't overdo it.  Get the miles in and avoid injuries.  Only 4 weeks to the marathon and overall I'm feeling pretty good!

Catching Up

I'm pretty far behind on posting to the blog and with a number of things to catch up on, I will keep this post short.  With only 33 days until the marathon, we're in the home stretch of training and fundraising!  We've raised over $7,700 thus far this year and over $57,100 since beginning this adventure in Nov 2011!  Looking forward to the day when I can say that we've passed the $60,000 mark for the 5 years!

This past Saturday was a drop down week for us followed by the patient partner poster party.  We got RJ's poster done and I'm sure it will look great at the pasta party on April 17!  The run itself was the first run this season where shorts and a t-shirt were appropriate clothing.  It warmed up quickly and though we started a little slow, we pushed the pace at the end, running in the low-mid 8min/mile range.  It also felt great to hit some of the hills and power up them, passing a number of runners along the way.  Hopefully this holds true during the marathon as well!

This week we'll be increasing mileage back up to the 16-18mi range and then it's our bing 20mi weekend before we start to taper and rest up for the marathon.

Superhero Weekend

I'm a bit late posting about last Saturday's run, but at least I'm getting it done before tomorrow's group run.  Last Saturday was Superhero Saturday.  I don't know how this event got started but it's always a fun day.  Our volunteers were out in full superhero garb and while many of us runners didn't know about the day, many other charity runners did.  We saw plenty of 'Incredibles' costumes as well as firefighters, Army personnel, Batman, Wonder Woman, Thor and many others.

The training run was a drop down week so we only ran 14 miles and are getting ready for our 18 mile run tomorrow.  Hopefully the run will go just as well.  As both marathon training and the 70.3 training pick up, I'm still feeling good and from what I can tell, no lingering issues from last year's stress fracture.  I finally figured out how to look at my historical mileage and I'm sure it's obvious when the injury occurred :)  Glad to be back at it with goals in sight!

An Early Spring?

2016 Margarita Themed Day

Cinco de Mayo is still a few months away but lucky National Margarita Day is Monday so we celebrated a bit early.  Our volunteers set up our 2nd water stop fitting with the theme and even had margarita shot blocks.  This helped us pass the 16+ miles that we aimed for yesterday and provided an incentive to grab some actual margaritas later on in the day :)

Looking back to 2015 group run

As for the run itself, it was the 2nd run this winter that verged on being 'shorts weather', such a change for last year!  As the clouds moved along and the sun came out, shorts and a short sleeve shirt would have been great.  Regardless, I started the run feeling a bit tired and with heavy legs. Luckily this feeling disappeared as the miles went along and we finished the run with <9 min miles.  Hopefully we can maintain this performance come Marathon Monday and have the best race yet.

With only 56 days to the marathon, it's a bit crazy to think that there are only 5 more weeks of group training runs, a few weeks of taper and April 18 will be here before we know it!

We Beat the Arctic Blast

As you likely heard, this past Sunday and Monday were COLD in the northeast!  We woke up Sunday to -4F temps, -25F wind chills and the day didn't warm up much from there.  Luckily, our DFMC team run was on Saturday morning and was actually quite nice.  An enjoyable 20F with low winds made the run enjoyable.  I felt good throughout the 15 miles and perhaps it was because we took it slower than normal, but I felt stronger as the run went along.  Our DFMC water stop volunteers made it a fun day as well.  We can't thank the volunteers enough for standing in the cold, keeping us hydrated and cheering us on every week we're out there!

This week has been a great fundraising week with several fabulous donors helping raise $1000 for DFMC!  This generosity is very much appreciated and a huge reason why we have raised more than $55,600 for DFMC these last 4+ years.  Thank you to all who have supported my DFMC efforts and help us reach a world without cancer!

Minimum Reached!

Thank you to the more than 40 donors who have helped raise $5,170 for innovative cancer research through the Barr Program and Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge!!  Surpassing the $5,000 is a welcome mark as it is the minimum us runner must raise to be part of DFMC.  While $5,000 is awesome, we won't stop here.  For all the cold, snowy, windy and/or rainy days that I and others are out there training, many others are fighting their own battles in a hospital or at home all across the world. These folks continue to motivate us and are with us throughout every run.  Again, thank you for all the support thus far and here's hoping that the mild winter continues here in Boston! Onward to our goal of $13,100 for DFMC and a world without cancer!

DFMC Video

DFMC released it's first video highlighting the Barr program, patients, runners and DFCI investigators. Enjoy!

A good way to end the week

On Tuesday I went out for my first 'real' speed workout this training season.  I hit a mile in a 7+/mi pace, then a 4-5K in the 8s and finished with another mile ~7.15/mi pace.  If felt good during the run but on Wed started to have some muscle tightness in my right leg/hip.  Of course I couldn't help but think of my hip and hope that I didn't make a bad choice.  I decided to take the rest of the week off and not push it.

Today was our team run and we hit the course for part of it.  I ran 14.5 miles and after taking most of the week off, I felt remarkably good.  I finished the run at a good pace and it was a great day to be out there.  Perhaps not quite beach weather, but that was the theme at one of the water stops today.  Hopefully we won't have a beach day on April 18, but today was a good one.

A Welcome Change

2012, before the snow really started

During the last 4 years I've made it to most team runs and thus I've run the same routes many times.  Our run in Wayland has always been a pretty run, but usually not a fun run.  The rolling hills are nice to start, but less so as we wrap up 14-16 miles.  The 'quiet' back roads quickly get busier and about 1/2 the drivers see no need to slow down for us.  On top of this, the run in Wayland has usually had snow and gotten quite sloppy (see pictures from 2012 and 2014).   This year was a welcome change as we didn't have any snow, just some wind and cold.  I felt good during the run and was happy to finish the 14 miles at a sub-9 min/mile pace.  Definitely wasn't trying for this but chatting with teammates helps the miles go by.

2014, mile 10 of 14

Following the group run was the Patient Partner Match Party.  This is our chance to meet and reconnect with our patient partners.  Having run in honor of RJ these last 5 years, we have a great relationship and 'reconnect' throughout the year but it's always great to see him, as well as the other runners and patient partners.  After some ice cream sundaes, we heard from Dmitri and his runner about what the program has meant to them.  It's always a great to hear from the patient partners as a reminder how much us runners mean to them since we already know how much the patient partners and 'in memory of' families mean to us.  It was another great event and I'm looking forward to our fifth year in the patient partner program!

Winter is Here

It was a cold night tonight with the wind helping the 20F temps feel like 5F.  Luckily the wind also helped me up the hills a bit.  Since we're not inside on the track yet, I took on a nice 0.2mile hill with a gradual incline.  I decided to run this 8 times and push the pace while going uphill, but I didn't want to push too much as I'm still getting back into running at speed.  Overall, I felt good and had a nice sub-7.30min/mi pace going on these hill repeats.  With a possible winter storm this weekend, hopefully we won't have a repeat of last year's winter!

Longest run since April!

What a week and way to start 2016...
Donations and company matches topped $4,100 this week!  With a goal of $13,100, we're just over 8 miles into our fundraising marathon :)  Also, this $4100 total brings our 4+ year total to over $53,500 thus far!  An amazing feat that is certainly beyond what I would have expected when I first ran with DFMC in 2012.
This week a number of generous companies also donated items for our March fundraiser which will help raise even more money for DFMC!  Thank you to the following companies for supporting DFMC and our efforts!!

        

So our team run...this was my first DFMC run of the 2016 season.  It was also the furthest that I've run since the marathon in April.  After a cool and soggy 12.5 miles, I felt pretty good and was happy with the run.  It would have been great to be pain free, but similar to my return to running in the fall, I'm experiencing some soreness in the adductors/quads.  Of course my mind immediately wonders whether there's any issue with the hip, but after an MRI and CT scan in the fall, there was no indication that the stress fracture was still here.  Here's hoping that with continued strength training, stretching and massage, things begin to feel 100%.  At least there's a good group of DFMCers to run with and see every week