Hope your week is going well so far. Mark and I are eager to finish off our work days before flying to Paris tonight!
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t put on some Sex and the City Season 6: “An American Girl in Paris” as I packed last night. While the Paris scenes got me very excited for our trip overseas, I decided to leave my Carrie Bradshaw outfits out of the suitcase. :)
Continue reading “Heading from Boston to Paris”
What a difference a day makes! We were met with sunny, spring-like weather over the weekend which quickly turned to wintry rainy weather yesterday. At least it wasn’t the reverse!
Sign of spring in Boston: Duck Boats are back on the streets!
Continue reading “Training to Recover and Recovering to Train”
Happy Friday to all! Hope you’ve had a great week and are staying positive, as the weekend is near! It’s darkest before dawn, so hope you are gearing up for a mix of fun plans/workouts/runs/family time/friend time/alone time over the next couple of days.
This week commenced with sadness in the wake of the terrorist attack in Brussels. My heart breaks for those touched by this tragedy. In my seemingly powerless little corner in Boston, something I can control is the persistent feeling of empathy for those around me, and a promotion of kindness. Spreading peace and compassion to neighbors won’t curb violent attacks around the world, but helping others on an individual level might be the right amount of influence to deter those considering violence.
A photo I took when I visited Brussels a few years ago:
Continue reading “Making Peace on a Friday”
Good morning! As we are in New England, we woke up to a blanket of snow this morning following a couple of weeks of warm spring-like weather. As they say, if you don’t like the weather in New England, wait five minutes, so hopefully that means the snow will melt soon!
The weekend started off with some happy hour drinks after a long week including a nice Friday morning run (I’ve cut back on alcohol and sweets over the last 6 months or so, but am a true believer in moderation and enjoying life as well!).
Photos from Friday morning run:
Continue reading “Hill Drills & Weekend Recap”
Happy St. Patrick’s Day friends!! Hope you’re having a great week so far. Are you doing anything to celebrate the holiday? I’m going to hold off until the weekend to observe the splendor of my heritage. :)
Speaking of celebrations, I am so excited that Boston marathon is just over one month away (one month and one day to be exact!). On that Patriot’s Day weekend, Boston will be swarming with excited and eager runners and their patient family members and friends. It’s always such a special time to be in the city, bustle and all! Stay tuned for an upcoming post on must-see’s and do’s in Boston over marathon weekend (or any other time!).
Continue reading “Happy St. Patty’s Day & Boston Marathon Advice”
Good morning and Happy Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend.
On Saturday, I ran the Black Cat Road Race in Salem, MA as a Boston Marathon training run.
Continue reading “How Races Can Benefit Your Training”
Happy Friday! Hope you all have had a great week!
This first full week of March has been a great one! It’s felt like spring over here in Boston, a huge contrast to last winter where we had about five feet of snow still blanketing our city at this time. I will take it!
Five highlights from this week:
1.I signed up for my next race, which is tomorrow morning! It’s called the Black Cat 10 and 20 mile road race and is located in Salem, MA, about 20 minutes north of Boston. The race is held during the Boston marathon training cycle for those training for that race, but is for all levels of runners. Mark and I are signed up for the 20 mile race, although I am going to run about 15 because I am still recovering from Phoenix. My sister is running the 10 miler as well. It will be so great to run together again! I ran this race a few years ago and felt that it was very well supported and had great scenery. There is no better way to run 10-20 miles than with others! Race recap to come.
Continue reading “Five Updates from this Week!”
This last week following Phoenix marathon has been very active, but not because of running. It has been so nice to switch gears and focus on family and friends after the long marathon build-up!
Continue reading “Post-Race Week & Switching Gears to Boston!”
Thank you so much for all of your Phoenix Marathon love in my last post! I promised you a full review, so here you go!
First off, while I am so thrilled to have run a personal best and BQ, I am always looking to improve, and think that I can potentially meet my “A” goal, which is a finish time somewhere in the 3:20’s.
Continue reading “Phoenix Marathon Review”
Hello friends! Thank you all SO MUCH for all of your incredible pre-race inspiration! I had all of your mantras and motivating words running through my head throughout the Phoenix marathon on Saturday, and they helped me all the way to the finish! I’m so happy to report that I ran a PR with a time of 3:31, and qualified for Boston for 2017 (hoping that the cutoff will be no more than 4 minutes next year!). I have a lot more to say about the race in the next post, but for now I’ll share some photo highlights of our trip to Arizona!
Finish line photo with our half and full marathon medals! I am so grateful to have such a wonderful, supportive running buddy :)
Continue reading “Still Feeling that Post-Race High”
Hope your week is going well so far! I am getting super excited to RACE on Saturday! There has been so much build-up over the past few months, I am excited to finally get my prize: to run this marathon. Regardless of the race outcome, I know that I will reflect on the entire experience and smile. I am so thankful for my coaches, family, friends, and all of my amazing blog followers for their endless enthusiasm, support, and motivation throughout this winter training cycle. While running is only a hobby of mine, I have learned that goal setting is only half the battle: surrounding yourself with unwaveringly supportive people can significantly bolster your goal reaching capabilities and overall happiness. After this race, it will be my turn to encourage you all!
There are many ways to mentally (and physically) prepare for a race, or any big event. I have previously posted about the benefits of visualization, an exercise which I have been doing a lot of lately. Another powerful method for race preparation is positive thinking about the race and your ability to perform well. Here are other strategies I use to get ready for race day:
Continue reading “Race Day Countdown and Running Mantras”
Happy Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend full of adventure, relaxation, and everything in between! Our winter weekend escape started on Friday with a five + hour drive northwest of Boston to the Adirondacks (Tupper Lake, NY to be exact!). For the majority of the country, this might be a typical weekend drive- but for us New Englanders, it felt like we were on an cross-continental expedition. :)
Continue reading “Outdoor Escape & RACE WEEK!”
Hi friends! Hope you’ve had a great week so far! Over here in Boston, we have seen some real highs and lows in terms of weather. See-sawing from from sub-zero temperatures last weekend to balmy 40 and 50 degree days and monsoon rains; now we are back to normal winter temperatures in the 30s. These are weather “problems” you can only get in New England! I enjoy mother nature keeping us on our toes.
After taking my runs inside for over a week, it was nice to get outside yesterday morning for my last speed workout on the calendar. I wasn’t in the great outdoors, yet it felt very peaceful being out there on my urban run.
Continue reading “See-Saw week!”
Hope you all had a great weekend and that it was spent with your loved ones! It was bitterly cold up here in Boston, and I spent most of it indoors, but it was a special weekend!
Some highlights:
Continue reading “Love and Miles”
Happy Friday! Hope your week has been a great one. Mine has been fairly low key with the exception of a few intense workouts and dinner with friends last night. Definitely a different kind of lifestyle compared to even a year ago! I am enjoying the process of becoming marathon-ready, but am looking forward to a break starting February 28th, the day after my marathon!
Where I will be racing in 15 days! Photo credit: @visit_arizona
Continue reading “15 Day Countdown and Happy Friday!”
Welcome to the second week of February!
I was looking at marathonguide.com (as I do most days—just kidding, kind of) and noticed that the Austin marathon is this weekend. I want to run the race as soon as I can, because I really love that Texas city!
Continue reading “Dreaming of Austin”
Happy Sunday everyone! Hope the first half of your weekend has been great! Congratulations to reader KELLY who was randomly selected to receive a SPIbelt!! Thank you all for your entries, I loved reading your comments- you guys are so inspiring to me! Stay tuned for future giveaways and thanks again for stopping by my blog!
It’s been a busy weekend over here in Boston, in the wake of a decent snow storm that visited on Friday. My good friend was lucky to give birth to a precious baby boy yesterday just as the snow stopped falling! So Happy for Rachel and Kevin :)
The city only saw about 6 inches, but it was enough to cover the trees and make it seem like Christmas. I almost felt like belting out some carols while out and about last night!
Continue reading “Winter is Back in Boston”
Hi, friends! It seems like it has been awhile. I would love to blog more frequently but I’m finding it difficult to fit everything in! I’m now at peak marathon training, so that’s time consuming. My work has also taken up some extra time and mental energy because I’ve just been assigned to a new project. I know many of you readers live incredibly busy lives yourselves, and I applaud you for balancing your family and personal lives, work lives, and running/marathon training/fitness goals.
At least my week hasn’t only been filled with work! I’ve fit in a few good runs, both before and after work. Boston has seen some incredible “winter” weather lately, and it’s been in the 40’s-50s for much of the week. No complaints here!
Evening & dawn running pics!
Continue reading “Spring in February and A GIVEAWAY!”
Well, it’s that Monday morning feeling! The weekend was a great one—hope yours was too!
The weekend started and ended with some quality girl time! Friday night dinner and drinks with some Boston gals followed by visits with friends and family, followed by Sunday bridesmaid shopping! So many colors, shapes and sizes to choose from! The bride went with a beautiful color for us that will look amazing for a fall wedding in Maine. It’s going to be a busy summer and fall ahead with 7 other weddings!
Continue reading “Feeling Like a Monday!”
Happy Friday! As we approach the end of the week, a weekend of possibilities ahead of us, I’ll offer you some Friday fitness inspiration. I was lucky enough to interview with elite runner Tina Muir, and today’s post will include the feedback. Tina Muir is originally from the UK, but relocated to the USA in 2007 to pursue her education and running career. Tina’s PRs include 16:08 in the 5k, 33:24 in the 10k, a 1:13 half marathon, and 2:41 in the marathon (London). She recently won the Army 10 miler in DC with a finish time of 55:19. Tina is sponsored by Saucony, and is currently trying to make the Great Britain team for the world half championships. You can read more about Tina and her running career on her wonderful blog, www.tinamuir.com, and on Runner’s Connect where she is currently the community manager. Enjoy!
Continue reading ““Be Brave. Be Strong. Be YOU”: Interview with Elite Runner Tina Muir”
Jane Runs Wild 