operation jack satellite run

i hope you all had a fantastic christmas!:-)

mine was awesome, thanks for asking. i went to my parents house, spent time with my family and T enjoyed his very first christmas. this christmas was a little different though. instead of spending the entire christmas weekend at my parents house, we drove back home christmas night. i had an important run in the morning. it wasn't a race. it wasn't timed. there weren't a lot of people running. it was 18 degrees out with a nasty wind chill. but it was for autism. ill do just about anything for that.

you see, back in april i met sam at the boston marathon. he ran 61 marathons in 2010 to raise awareness and money for an organization called train 4 autism. somehow in the last 8 months i have become chapter president of the maine train 4 autism, signed up for my first marathon and met some pretty sweet people, all because of sam.

on december 26, 2010 sam ran his 61st marathon of the year in california. if there was a way i could have been there, i would have. it just wasn't possible though. i wasn't the only one who wanted to be there to support sam so the idea was born to have satellite runs. it's quite simple. run 6.1 miles, where ever you are in the world anytime on december 26 in honor of sam and his accomplishment.

in the weeks leading up to the run danielle, sam and i had an interview with jake from run like health, and i had an interview with the portland press herald (you can see a copy of that story here). the press herald story ran on christmas eve and my inbox was flooded with people who had never heard about train 4 autism and were moved by the story or knew someone with autism that they wanted to support. i must say, it was pretty cool. even if they didn't come out and run with us, i know that i was able to get the word out to some more people.

ok, to the run. 16 of us met sunday morning. it was c-c-c-c-ooooooold! i ran the run with elizabeth and monica. normally i like running alone. i like being able to go my own speed and not worry about holding others back. these two lovely ladies ran my pace and we had a blast. the miles ticked by and we chatted about all kinds of things from elizabeths quest to run marathons in all 50 states in memory of her dad to monica's list of 5 stupid things to do at 50. we had fun taking pictures of random things along our run, singing ke$ha to the town of south portland and talking autism. cause that's why we were all there right? the entire time i thought of sam, his quest, his accomplishments and what he was about to do later in the day. i thought about my brother and how the money i am raising is going to help him, and every time i hit a hill that i didn't want to run i thought of the mdi marathon and how i want to own those hills.

elizabeth and i with a penguin on someone front yard. welcome to maine.

representing the other portland

danielle, melissa, elizabeth and i were the only ones running that day who have actually met sam. everyone else was just there because they dig what he is doing, they support the cause and want to help. that meant a lot to me. it meant more then christmas presents i got or the birthday presents ill be getting next week (you can still send yours though, its ok). it meant a lot because most of the runners drove 30+ minutes to get there on a very cold day. this wasn't something they had to do, it wasn't something they were doing for someone they know. i am just very grateful to those who came out and ran. so thank you to mark, christine, jim, dawn, elizabeth, misty, jen, sandra, monica, andy, brendan, eric, bj, melissa and of course my right hand women, danielle. there was also a group that ran in auburn and my mom and her friend spent 2 hours walking it!! 

i thought about running with the train 4 autism banner to help keep me warm:-)

danielle and i after the run

GO MAINE GO!

sam, this fist pump is for you! thank you!

Think Different

I have a lot of different ideas running through my head right now. I hope that I can get them out of my head and convey the jumbled mess I've been thinking about today.


If you don't know, my 13 year old brother has autism. he was adopted by my family when i was in high school and he was 3 years old. he is the one of the best things in my life and has really changed my view on the world. you can read all about him here.


zach is now in the 7th grade and a full blown teenager. think back to when you were in 7th grade. all the emotions that come along with being 13. you probably had friends that you talked to about things. you asked them about girls/boys, you wrote notes and passed them during class, you started being more independent, you had feelings. well, zach has all of these things too. he just doesn't know how to handle it. he has a crush on a girl in his class who enjoys him as a person, but does not like him back. he.is.crushed!! seriously!  he was at a week long camp with his class this fall when he found out that this girl did not like him. he was so upset he got angry (which is often how he shows his emotions, through anger. it's scary the older he gets). so angry i had to go pick him up from camp and have him spend the night at my house and i brought him back in the morning (it was closer for me to go pick him up then my parents). on the way home he told me "my heart was broken today". UGH...talk about making me melt. my husband talked to him about how there are lots of fish in the sea..yadda, yadda, yadda. but he doesn't really get it.


zach isn't one of the classic examples of autism. he displays certain traits but then there are other things he can do that we are simply blown away by that technically he "shouldn't be able to do". he is officially diagnosed with autism because that's how we can get him the services he needs. 1:1 ed tech at school, hippo therapy, and summer programming. zach knows he is different. he knows he isn't like the rest of the kids in his class. he truly thinks in a different way. his teachers are pleased with him during class discussions because his brings a different view of whatever they are discussing to the table that the rest of the kids don't think about. he overlooks the obvious answers and digs deeper. he truly is a different thinker.


for my baby shower, my sister asked him to draw me a picture that could be hung in the baby's room. he opened up a tiny notebook that my mom's work sells and drew 4 pictures. each picture was a pea pod and they were put in a frame and i now have 4 peas in a pod hanging up in tyler's room. of course peas in a pod is a very appropriate thing for a babies room. would you have thought to draw that?


he loves to invent things. his classroom has tank with crabs and other assorted things from the bay in it. his teacher was talking one day about having difficulty feeding the crabs. zach took a piece of wire and bent one end of it and attached the food to it (like bait on a fishing hook) and then bent the other end to hang over the side of the tank so that you could leave it there and didn't have to hang on to it. duh. simple and easy. totally zach. 


there are several students at his school who have much more "typical" autism. he knows the word. he knows he has it. but he doesn't get what it means. like i mentioned a lot of zachs emotions are displayed through anger whether it's hurt, rejection, feeling scared, lonely, or tired. apparently he got in some kind of mini argument with another kid at school who has some kind of difficulty and this kid got angry. zach thinks that because the kid was angry, he is autistic. 


this morning i got this email from my mom. the subject was titled "remind you of someone you know?"

This is the text from the original Apple ad.

 "Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers.

The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create.

They inspire. They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

of course. it's zach! i asked her about it and she said that it was one of apple computer's first ad campaigns in the 90's. she said she googled "think different" and came across this. why on earth was my mom googling the words "think different"? 


then i got this email from her.

s, 

I had a great talk with school  this morning. I think we're going to "graduate" Zach from being autistic, which in some respects he never has been. But he is starting to identify with it, so we thought we'd have a ceremony on the last day of school in December, let him rip up his autism "certificate," (we'll make one), and give him a new "diagnosis" of, I don't know, "Different Thinker," or "Outside the Box Thinker," or something along those lines. He is so concrete, he might just buy it. And in fact, it's true. He is wired for accomplishing much greater things than his classmates, but his road will be rockier because of it.

We're trying to give him a new identity to help him have a more positive attitude toward his differences.

Kind of like the Wizard giving the Tin Woodman a heart, or the Scarecrow a brain, we will give him a new "Certificate" that reinforces the good things he's already doing.

I'm actually pretty excited about it. It has certainly made my day better at least. 

                              ma 




so i dont know where i am going with this. but i've been thinking. how can we uses zach's different way of thinking to his benefit? let's not let the fact that he can't read or write well get in his way. that math problems are not the thing he excels at. let's celebrate the fact that he has brilliant ideas that are different then yours and mine. out of the box. original. 


with each new day comes a new surprise with zach. we work hard to get him what he needs. he works twice as hard to try and fit in and be normal. maybe being normal isn't all it's cracked up to be. maybe if he is different, he can make a change in the world that you or i would have never thought to do. 

zach and i at the mdi marathon. oct 2010

i'll leave you with this video that sam sent to me today.

Operation Jack Satellite Run

For those of you who have followed along with my blog you know about Sam and Operation Jack. In case you are a new reader Sam is running 61 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for an organization called Train 4 Autism. Sam has named this endeavor Operation Jack in honor of his son Jack who is autistic. 


I first met Sam in Boston this year when he was running the Boston Marathon and Danielle and I were there spectating (I will return every year to watch. We had a blast!). Sam was kind enough to meet up with us after the race for lunch. We chatted for a while and long story short we have now built a Train 4 Autism chapter in Maine. 


On December 26, 2010 Sam is running his 61st marathon of the year in California, the Operation Jack Marathon. Unfortunately I can't make it out there to run. I truly believe in everything Sam is doing and what he represents but logistically it's just not possible. The idea was born to create a satellite run for people who are unable to run the Operation Jack Marathon. The satellite run will be a 6.1 mile run (a play off of 61 marathons) where ever you are on December 26. The idea is to get all 50 states represented and as many countries as possible. Registration is 25.00 or you can create a fundraising page and if you raise 30.00 the registration fee is waived. Participants will receive an Operation Jack finishers medal and race tshirt. 


Here in Maine we have a good size group running in South Portland. If you are in the area and want to join us, just drop me a line and I'd be happy to get you all the info. The competitive side of me wants Maine to have the largest number of participants...let's make it happen! You can register here and become part of this amazing event. 


Tonight Danielle, Sam and I joined Jake's podcast Run Like Health to talk about Operation Jack, the Maine Chapter of Train 4 Autism and the satellite run. Stay tuned for a link to it soon. 

Philly Marathon Weekend

We crammed about as much as one could into this weekend. I have lots to share and not enough energy or time to write it all out. So you are going to get the highlights! Enjoy...

Friday November 19, 2010

*we wanted to leave ME for PA at 3:00am . We woke up at 3:30. Fail. On the road at 4.

* met some guy at a rest stop along the way. He saw my Syracuse sweatpants and Maine plates. He said he is a big fan of Coach Boeheim and that he lives in Maine. I liked this guy.

*arrived at my Aunt and Uncles at 1:00pm ate a turkey dinner at 2:30

*had the most AMAZING 6 mile run. Beautiful farm land. I felt quick. Only stopped because it was flippin cold and dark.

*apple pie and mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert.

*in bed by 9:00pm

Saturday November 20, 2010

*up at 7:30.

*out the door at 9:30 to go into the city. or "downtown" as my aunt and uncle call it. its an hour away.

*10:30 arrived in the city and walked around the town for a bit and did some shopping

*met up with some super awesome twitter peeps for lunch at the marathon grill. thanks to erica for organizing the lunch.

would someone tell sam it's not all about him?

the gang. minus a few.

*sam ask the waitress her opinion on what he should get for lunch and named 3 things he was thinking about. she said they were all good so he told her to pick one and surprise him. when it came ,a different waitress asked "who had the chocolate chip cookie dough pancakes" sam said "um, i might have. i don't know". she looked confused.

*walked around the italian market and got some super yummy cheese. like...really, really good cheese

*chatted with a man and his wife who were in line behind us at the italian market. they had their 8 month old baby with them. he then handed me his kid and said "here, hold him and see what 24 pounds feels like". so i did.

*met the campbell crew at franklin fountain for ice cream. mmmm. saw it on man vs. food and we knew we needed to go. this is what we got.

*got a call from my aunt saying my uncle was in the hospital after being unresponsive from his blood donation. hes ok now.

*went back to my aunts and went to bed.

Sunday November 21, 2010

*woke up way too early.

*made it into the city by 6:40 and got to the philly marathon start line in time to see some of the later corrals start.

*i love the philly marathon, they had a tent set up just for me

*my husband says tyler will appreciate this photo when he is older:-)

*made our way down kelly drive to mile 14 and waited for the runners. ruddley wanted coffee and i told him we didn't have time. (ummm we probably did but i didn't want to go).

*saw sam. he said he felt like death. i told him he looked good in pink

*saw mark. he didn't say anything.

*made our way back towards mile 25. ruddley still wanted coffee but i didn't want to miss all the people i knew running. after all, that is why we were there.

*we didn't get coffee

*saw erica go by at mile 13. i jumped up and down and screamed for her. she had on an awesome outfit.

*saw elizabeth go by at mile 13. she gave me a thumbs up and said she was having fun. i told her that her dad would be proud of her.

*saw sam again at mile 25ish. he was in the zone. he didn't say anything, but i got a point.

*saw mark at mile 25ish. he said he was cramping. i told him to push it!

* walked to the finish and saw team mark! he went 3:31. his second marathon ever. his first one was in oct 2010.

*met sam and peggy at the finish and snapped some pics.

i wonder what he'll wear for 2000.00. if 1000.00 got him pink arm warmers.

*met sam and peggy for lunch for pizza and philly cheese steaks. i had pizza the boys had cheese steaks.

*tried to convince peggy to run the mdi marathon. i hope she's thinking about it.

* said goodbye to sam and peggy and told sam i'd see him in boston. good times never seem so good. so good! so good! so good!

*walked back to the car and passed the eastern state penitentiary, they were giving tours. we did not take one.

*plugged in home on the gps and followed the directions.....

*until ruddley decided not to follow the directions....

*had a 40 minute detour through NYC. not my idea of fun.

*we were craving five guys for dinner. guess what we had. five guys

*tyler slept the entire way home. he was a trooper.

*11:15pm pulled into our driveway

*11:30pm lights out at the emerson house.

phew. we had such an awesome weekend. i am so glad i got to see mark run. it was great to see sam again. love that my aunt and uncle got to meet tyler. a nice long weekend with my family. success.

a whole lot of nothing

yup... thats what my running has been this week...errrr the last two weeks....a whole lot of nothing. i had hopes of running a half marathon last weekend but after my run 2 weekends ago i just wasn't feeling it. i don't have any races scheduled and have a hard time motivating myself to run when i don't have anything to work towards. im also a wimp when it comes to running outside in the cold. i suppose that doesn't look good for my winter training.

im pretty excited about things i have coming up in the spring though. jamie, who i met through twitter suggested that i run the pineland races over memorial day weekend. ive never run trails before but what the hell...im always up for something new. at first i was just going to run the 10k on saturday but when i took a closer look at the swag you get for finishing i wasn't real pumped about the water bottle. however, if i ran the 25k on sunday i get a cowbell. come on, what runner doesn't love a cowbell. not to mention the free beer and bbq afterwards!! i haven't signed up for it yet but im looking forward to it. the weekend before pineland i am running my first relay. this is the reach the beach 200 mile relay in MA. my friend danielle has run the NH one twice and this spring will be the first rtb in MA. we are forming an all womens team but are still a few ladies short (we need 12). i was chatting with another twitter friend ashley last week and it didn't take long to convince her to join our team. p.s- she's in missouri and we are in maine. we've never met and she's agreed to spend 24 hours with me in a van. i hope she's cool! haha. and not only is she running rtb with us she is crashing with a friend in boston for the week and then joining jamie and i at pineland the following weekend. apparently she has a hard time saying no:-)

what's hard is finding time to work out. i know ive said this before but now that im a mom i can't just go to the gym whenever or go for a run whenever. i have to squeeze it in between work and picking him up from daycare. i don't like going for a run after dark alone so doing anything when i get home from work is out of the picture. im sure ill figure it all out soon....i hope. in the meantime, anyone want to whip together a 25k training program for me? im much better at running when i have a schedule to follow.

this weekend im off with my family to PA!!!! we are going to visit my aunt and uncle, they haven't tyler yet. they live about an hour outside philadelphia so we are also going to watch sam, elizabeth and my neighbor mark run the philly marathon. im excited to meet a bunch of twitter peeps at lunch on saturday too:-) and speaking of sam...what are you doing December 26,2010??

sam is closing in on his 61 marathon of the year to raise money and awareness for train 4 autism! while we can't all be crazy like him, we can help in his celebration! on december 26 sam is running the operation jack marathon #61 for him in southern california. several of us mainers have been following sam on his journey since we met him at the boston marathon in april. sam has so many people who "dig what he is doing" that live all over the US but can't make it to ca to run. he has created a satellite option where we can run 6.1 miles (a play off of 61 marathons) wherever we are in the US. for a suggested donation of 25.00 you can run the race, get a operation jack tshirt and finishers medal. you can also bypass the 25.00 donation if you create a fundraising page and raise 30.00 annnnnnd you still get the shirt and medal. all the details can be found right here. if you live in the portland me area and want to join us in the run just let me know!! im thinking we'll run the 6.1 miles in the portland area and then meet up for a post run lunch and celebrate sam's craziness!! this cause is near and dear to my heart so i hope you will think about running!

leaving you with a few pictures! i borrowed my neighbors jogging stroller a few weeks ago. i think i would have rather been bundled up then pushing it!

my mdi relay teammate and amazing friend kate ran the new york city marathon last weekend! she kicked ass and im so proud of her!!

Photos from MDI

I mentioned in my race recap of MDI that I wish I had my camera while I was running! The views along the course were stunning and I really wanted to share them with you. I came across Dana's blog (she's running 52 marathons in 52 weeks. Check her out!) and her recap from MDI. Dana was the smart one who did bring her camera and stopped to take lots of pictures along the way...or continued running and took lots of pictures, I'm not sure which. Either way, she was able to capture many awesome sights along the course. With her permission I am sharing them with you here! Enjoy! They are in no specific order

The rest of the photos were taken by Kate's mom! We were having so much fun...can't you tell!?

MDI Marathon Relay

Sometime over the summer, while super pregnant and not running, I thought it would be a good idea to sign up for the MDI Marathon Relay. I called my friend Kate and asked if she wanted to do the 2 person relay with me meaning we would each run 13.1 miles. After a few weeks of thinking about it, I decided I may not be ready for 13.1 miles 12 weeks after delivering my baby boy. I called her in a panic wondering if she could find another runner and do the 3 person relay. She recruited her cousin Jen and we registered!

Attending MDI High School and growing up in the area, I knew it was a difficult and hilly course. In the weeks leading up to the race I started to freak out a little. Was I really up for this? Was I trying to do too much too soon?? At this point it was really too late and I just needed to do it.

I spent the first 2 days fielding questions about Train 4 Autism at the expo.

At the expo I got to meet some DM people Jamie, Jill, Jim and his wife Patti. That was pretty sweet. I went home Saturday night and had to switch gears from train 4 autism to race mode. Of course my 3 month old is just starting to teeth and he was not having a good night. I was pretty concerned about getting enough sleep that night. I was finally able to get Tyler to bed and I laid in bed staring at the ceiling. It was one of those things where I was so tired but could not sleep. Awesome. While laying there though, I remembered I hadn’t done my football picks yet and certainly wouldn’t have time in the morning to do them so I got up to make my picks (not like it really matters because I missed a week and so I’m not going to win…booo). I got back into bed and visualized myself powering up the hills I was going to be running the following day.

Race Day. My alarm went off at 5:00am. I was surprisingly wide awake and ready for the day. I got myself ready, exchanged a few tweets with Jaime, got Tyler ready and hurried my slow family out the door. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s rushing to the start line. I like to have plenty of time to get there.

Heading onto the island race morning.

Team Project Zach. Kate Jen and I before the start. Brrrrr

My brother Zach and I

I ran into Jim and Patti and then we found Jill. Patti was able to snap this gem of a photo before we all lined up.

I stood next to Jill who flew in from Montana for this race. I asked her why she picked MDI and she said that since it was the runner up for the best overall marathon, she had to check it out! She also said she wants to come back and run Beach 2 Beacon and I told her this was a very good idea (Jill—registering for B2B is like registering for Boston 2011. You must be at the computer the minute it opens!!!). The star spangled banner was played (Danielle, I still thought of you!) and then ACDC’s Thunderstruck was played over the loud speaker. Everyone was getting pumped and jumping up and down (I was doing it just to stay warm. Did I mention it was cold?!). With that, the gun went off and so were we!

My teammate Kate who is running NYC in 3 weeks wanted to get a long run in so she ran my leg with me before running hers. I have never been one that enjoys running with other people. I like to be able to just focus on my run and not worry about holding my running partner up. Even though Kate is a faster runner then I am she hung with me and never left…well except when she had to pee. I’m pretty sure that without Kate with me that day I would not have done as well as I did. MDI is known to be a tough course. It’s got some killer hills and I knew that it wasn’t going to be long before they came. I don’t actually remember where the hills started but I felt as if I was running up hill for a long time. The one I was most proud of for conquering was the long hill that took up much of mile 2. Yea, that was not so much fun. It was while I was running up this hill that I was super pumped that I was only running 8.5 miles and not the whole thing. I think it was also at this time that I swore I would never run the MDI full. I was feeling great and during miles 4&5 and I even sang to Kate. Yea, you read that right. Glee came on to my ipod (I know Danielle and Jeri will love this) and I couldn’t help but sing. Outloud. Kate loved it…I’m not so sure the other runners around me did. Oops:-)

Somewhere around mile 6 I was feeling like I wanted to stop and walk but then I saw our cheering squad (My mom, dad, brother and son along with Kate’s mom, aunt and cousin Jen) at the top of the hill and I knew I couldn’t stop. Kate stopped in to use the bathroom at her friend’s house (advantages of being a local) and I kept going. When Kate caught back up to me I remember telling her how good I was feeling. I seriously couldn’t believe my legs. 4 weeks prior I had “run” a 10k on a very flat course and I struggled with it…a lot! Here we were at the 10k mark of the MDI Marathon and I felt awesome. Go figure. The next 2 miles I we didn’t talk much (might have had something to do with the fact I sang for 2 miles earlier…I was getting tired) but I just took in the scenery. Even though I grew up here, the views were just breathtaking. I really wish I had my camera. There was one point on Cooksey Drive where we came around a corner and looked over a cliff and out to the ocean. It was just amazing. I am a little disappointed though that Martha Stewart was not at the bottom of her driveway with cupcakes cheering for us when we ran by. Fail Martha Fail!

There were a lot of killer up hills but there were some awesome your quads will hate you for life down hills too. I had the pleasure of ending my leg with a nasty downhill. We came into Seal Cover beach at the 8.5 mile mark. This is where my leg ended and Kate’s began. She had the next 10.1 miles.

We jumped in the car and drove to Northeast Harbor where we watched Kate run by. Damn she looked good for being on her 12th mile. We had a pit stop at Kate’s parents house before heading to the exchange for the 3rd leg. It was here I got to see Jill and Jim run by! I also saw my friend from high school Emma fly through here. Kate came in and picked up Jen and the 2 of them continued on.

We ended up picking Kate up 2 miles later. I saw Jim and Emma run by again and I gave them my best cheer! The last 5 miles or so of this course is pretty much up hill. No joke. Why do you think I picked the first leg?? I’m no dummy. I knew that runners were going to need as much support on this stretch as they could get. I remember one guy who was walking down the last major hill of the course. He looked like he was in a lot of pain. We started cheering for him as loud as we could and gave him some words of encouragement (like there are no more hills, it's flat from here on out, 1.2 miles to the end!) He started running again and looked at us, waved and yelled "Thank you". :-). Our last stop was at mile 25 which also happened to be right where Jen lived. We parked in her driveway and waited for her and then ran the last 1.2 miles as a team. Emma drove by and gave us a nice little honk as we entered the home stretch.

Patti and Jim were waiting for us at the finish line and she got this sweet picture of us!

I had such a blast during this race. I felt great running, I enjoyed cheering on runners when they didn't think they could go any farther and it was nice to do it all in my old stomping grounds. I know that somewhere around mile 2-3 I said I would never run MDI as a full. Ok I lied. Or I already forgot about the hills. Either way, this week I signed up for the MDI Marathon 2011. I am beyond excited. It's going to take some serious training, but heck, I've got a full year to do it. I've enlisted Jamie to help me with a training plan (did I mention he BQ and I'm going to get to watch him run in Boston along with Jill!) and I'm so pumped to make MDI my first. I grew up here and it will be pretty special for me. I already know several people who are going to be running it as well. It's going to be an epic weekend!

MDI Marathon preview

I'll be the first to tell you I was probably a little overzealous in signing up for the MDI Marathon relay 12 weeks after I had my baby. (you can now say "I told you so"). Maybe if I had been working out all through my pregnancy it wouldn't be such a problem. But no, I quit exercising about 3 or 4 months in. Sigh. So as soon as I was physically able after I had my baby I started running again. I put together an 8 week training plan to get me ready for MDI. Things were going well with the training until I went back to work 3 weeks ago. At that point my training got put on the back burner while I tried to figure out my new daily routine.

So here I am, 1 week away from the relay. 26.2 miles split up into 3 legs. I have chosen the first leg which is 8.5 miles. Kate, who is training for the NYC Marathon is running the first leg with me and then will continue on to run the second leg which is 10.1 miles and then hand off to her cousin Jen who will finish out with a 7.6 mile leg. Kate and I will join her somewhere around mile 25 and finish with her. This sounds all well and good until you take a look at the course. Yeah. It's all hills.

It goes from one side of Mount Desert Island and winds it's way around to the other side. There isn't much of a flat spot on the course.

Looks like fun, huh!? However, the views almost make up for the stupid hills. I drove the course yesterday, even though I grew up in the area. It is so pretty this time of year. The leaves are changing, and the lakes and mountains are stunning. Even though these views are nothing new to me, I hope they distract me from how much fun I will not be having. After all Runners World didn't vote it North America's most scenic marathon for nothing. Check out this YouTube video. For your reading pleasure, mile by mile descriptions

I went out for a run this afternoon after watching the Iron Man Kona last night and the Chicago Marathon today. I had high hopes of a good run. Nope. I wouldn't be so worried if I was running this race on my own. Sure, it still wouldn't be a good race but I would only be letting down myself. Next weekend I have 2 other people counting on me to run well. I would feel bad about letting them down.

I'm just going to cross my fingers and pray next Sunday! Ugh. I'm going to be at the expo again with my Train 4 Autism booth. That will be fun!

Me? Versatile?

This just about made my week!! I was given the versatile blog away by not one, but two people! Yup...pretty sweet huh!? Lindsey and Danielle both loved my blog so much they blessed me with this award (or they ran out of people to give it to and I ended up being the lucky runner up. I'll go with my first idea though)

So here are the rules of this lovely award (because they can't just give it to me. I actually have to do something!)

*Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award

*Share 7 things about yourself

*Pass the award along to others who you think are fabulous

Here goes.

Lindsey...thank you for always making me laugh, your great mommy advice and for being the best twitter friend i've never met. thank you for this award. and we will meet on amazing race someday:-)

Danielle...thank you for always being there for me, being a hardcore runner and awesome coach who lets me eat french fries. thank you for this award and i can't wait to run for real with you again soon

*as mentioned above, i love french fries and won't let anything get in the way of my consumption of them

*i love hoodies....a lot. i have over 20 of them. if you want to send me a present, you can't go wrong with a hoodie.

*since having a baby i'm getting better at typing one handed:)

*until a year and a half ago i hated all things to do with running. that's why i was a goalkeeper in soccer...so i didn't have to run

*i once drove from maine to nyc and back on my one day off from work--we even had time to catch a broadway show

*i love to sing in the car...and i always feel bad for the person next to me at a stop light

*my goal is to see a game at all 30 major league baseball parks with ruddley. So far we've knocked 5 off the list, 2 more this planned for next summer. kansas city royals and colorado rockies

now for the blogs i love to read...

erica miss america

the shabby princess

dorthy bitestoto

workout mommy

nurse on the run

just run with it

jerbear shares

(even though danielle gave her this award too. i still love her blog)