Boston One Fund 5k

There are times when I am so proud and honored to be part of the running community that it brings me to tears. Last night was one of those nights. I ran in the Boston One Fund 5k, organized by the Maine Running Company.

When I first saw the race announced I almost didn't sign up because I don't really like to run at night. And then I thought about it again and told myself to get over myself. This is a race to honor and raise money for Boston victims. I am privileged to be able to run, even if it isn't my preferred time of day.

The race was held on one of my favorite trails, a dirt loop around Back Bay. It was the perfect night- warm, sunny, with a nice refreshing breeze.

There were lots of people in Boston gear and we took a moment to honor all those who ran in this year's race at the start.

Most movingly, there were 2 people who were injured. Hearing their stories made the horror even more real to me.

The whole race was pretty informal, and right before the start someone said that we ought to sing the national anthem. Someone volunteered to lead and we all sang along. This brought me to tears. 600 runners gathered at sunset to run for a common cause joined in the national anthem.

And then we were running. I knew the trail would be crowded and that I wasn't there to set a PR. I just ran. I spent some time thinking about those killed and injured, about the mass acts of violence that seem to be happening with more frequency, and then about how amazing the running community is. 

I didn't look at my watch, so I was really surprised to finish in 25 minutes. That is pretty speedy for me. But honestly, my time didn't really matter. 

The finish was also informal, but had an amazing atmosphere. Those who had finished were hugging, dancing, and going back to cheer on those who were still running. 

I am a runner and it is an honor. 

Tri for the Y Swim Clinic

Somehow the triathlon  that I thought of as months away is now just weeks ago. All that swimming I was going to do this winter? That coaching I was going to get? Yeah, that didn't happen.

So when I found out that the Tri for the Y was offering a free swim clinic before the race I pounced. And then when it fell on a Friday night after a terrible work week, I considered skipping it and going to happy hour instead. But I used my good sense for once to convince myself to go to the clinic.


The clinic was held at the Freeport Y (which is way nicer than Portland BTW). We spent the first 30 minutes in a conference room where they described the logistics of the swim (divided into heats by projected time, 2 swimmers per lane, 325 yrds.) I really wished I'd gone last year, my first year doing the race, because it made everything super clear.

pool, you are not my friend

Then it was time to hit the pool. They had us all swim a few laps while they analyzed our strokes. I was shocked that they said my stroke was generally pretty darn good. I lift my head a little high when breathing, which is probably because of doing a lot of ocean swimming). The one thing they had me work on is my turn. I can't do a flip turn, so we worked on touch turns.

Grab the wall with one hand
Partially turn and lift both feet up and plant them on the wall
keep your top arm close to your head
push off the wall with both feet, don't worry about being fully turned around, your body will naturally do this as you push off
keep your hands together out in front of you
you should be about 2 body widths below the surface to reduce drag

This was hugely helpful- keeping my arms together and staying further under the surface of the water really helped reduce drag and I found I was getting much farther off each push off.

Then they offered to time us if we wanted to do a time trial. Despite my goggles filling up with water and then completely falling off, I finished in 6:19 which is more than a minute faster than the race last year!

I still can't say that I love swimming, but this definitely helped me feel more comfortable.

How do you feel about swimming? Do you have any good tri swim tips?

DIY Friday: Driftwood Key Rack

I don't know if it is spring, or the fact that the BF is moving in, or what, but I am majorly nesting lately. I have  a million and half things that I suddenly decided I want to do to my house. A lot of them I either can't afford to do, or don't have the skills/time to do, so I decided to start small.

I am forever losing my keys. So I hung a single stick-on hook by the door. But I had outgrown my hook. I had not just my car keys, but my house key I take running, my extra car keys, keys to BF's car and house, and of course his keys too. I needed a key rack.

At Easter I was walking on the shore at my Mom's house and found some cool pieces of driftwood. I asked myself what I could do with them and the wheels started turning- key rack!

This was the easiest DIY project ever. I let the driftwood dry in the sun for a week.

I bought some little screw hooks. I used a ruler to measure so my 4 hooks would be equally spaced (this was the hardest part, I was having a major unable to do easy math moment) and then drilled 4 holes with a drill. I screwed the hooks into the holes and then mounted hangers on the back and hung it on the wall. Easy peasy diftwood key rack for less than $3.

Gratitude

With all of the horror and sadness last week, I am trying to take time this week to focus on the positive. Truly, I have so many wonderful things in my life and I don't stop to appreciate them nearly often enough.
Here are the things I am most grateful for this week.

and now that he like to ski, he is even better!

1. My boyfriend. I don't really talk a lot about our relationship on the blog because this is a running/healthy living (or something like that, is it bad I don't really have more a focus for my blog??), but it is wonderful. I have never had a relation that felt so natural, easy, and wonderful. I love this guy. It's the first time I have ever felt like this about anyone, and it's pretty darn amazing. I am turning in a romantic schmuck. In fact, we recently made the decision to move in together and I can't wait.

2. Dixie dog. The dog came with the boyfriend and I love having her in my life. Because of his crazy schedule, I get to have her a lot. It gets lonely working at home alone all day and it seems so much less crazy to talk to the dog than to myself. Plus at night, it's totally legit not to move from the couch for 3 hours because you don't want to disturb the dog. And she is just so darn adorable.

3. Where I live. Moving back to Maine was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Seeing the ocean every day makes me a happier person. I love that I can go to the beach or Portland Head Light and walk at lunch. The beauty of the Maine ocean never fails to move me. I love my city too. Last Saturday I just walked around Portland for a few hours by myself. Portland has such character, great food, and lots of fun, funky, artsy, and active events.

4. Spring. Spring has been slow in coming this year and we've had quite a few regressions back to cold and snow. But, at the very least I don't have to deal with sub zero temperatures and snow and ice covered roads. It is that perfect time of year for running and skiing. Lots of snow still on the mountains, no snow on the roads, and warm enough to be comfortable but not too warm.

What are you grateful for this week?

Run for Peace Marathon

“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.” 

― Mahatma Gandhi, The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas


I woke up Friday morning to the news of the massive manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombers. It was surreal watching the live video of Watertown. I used to live not far from there and I saw many familiar sites. All day I refreshed my facebook page frequently making sure that my friends who were on lock-down were still okay. It all seemed like it should be a movie or a terrible dream.

When they finally captured the bomber, I cheered along with the rest of the country. As angry as I was, I was glad they got him alive. First of all, I want answers. I want to understand why he did what he did. Secondly, I didn't want more violence or death.

I think that the best way we can move forward from this tragedy is with a mission of peace, camaraderie, and support for the wounded. This is why I love the idea of the Run for Peace Marathon. It is simple- register, make a donation, and then commit to completing a marathon distance between April 29th and May 31st. 100% of the entry fees will be given to those affected by the Boston Marathon Attacks.

Community movement heals the wounds of tragedy and actively remembers those that have fallen.

Run alone.

Run together.

Run for Peace.

Chile Day 5: Celebrating a Birthday in Santiago

Wednesday was our last day in Chile and it was also R's birthday! I woke him up at 2 am (the time he was born), to sing Happy Birthday. He told me to shut up and go back to sleep. Rude. 

When we woke up later that morning, I did a quick workout in the gym and then we had a leisurely breakfast. I already miss the fresh strawberry juice, buffet of fresh fruit, perfectly cooked eggs, and giant bowl of warm manjar (caramel) to drizzle on my toast! I went a little crazy with the manjar because it was the last day.

We took some time to pack up and check out, leaving our suitcases with the hotel for the day. Our first stop was the local craft market just a couple blocks down from our hotel for some souvenirs. We took our time wandering the market. There were a lot of alpaca products, from socks, to sweaters, to hats. There were also a lot of metal crafts, from earrings, to decorative plates, to wall plaques. I dragged poor R to look at a million pairs of earrings that basically all looked the same and agonized over which to buy. I finally just bought myself both pairs that I really liked, one is a pair of pounded silver and the other is turquoise tear drops. The prices were good, the merchants friendly but not overly pushy, and we felt safe.

Next stop was the Mercado Central, the giant fish market. We saw row after row of every kind of fresh seafood imaginable. The merchants here however were very aggressive and the  smell of fresh seafood got a little overwhelming.

So we headed to San Cristobel, the biggest hill in the city that has a funicular that takes you to the top. The funicular was a bit ghetto, so I had visions of us crashing down to our death.

The smog was pretty thick, but it was still a nice view. We had a good time seeing what landmarks we could now recognize.

Then we hiked up the final portion to the giant statue of Mary at the top. My calves are still feeling that glacier hike, and I was glad we hadn't hiked the whole hill.

After an equally scary funicular ride down the hill it was lunch time. We were near the Bellavista neighboorhood, so we decided to make one last stop at Viva la Vida. On one hand it seemed silly to go to the same place 3 times, but on the other hand no other place looked as a good and had such a nice atmosphere.

We had a leisurely lunch in the sun, sharing one last terremoto (but a small one today!) I had a hake sandwich  the fish was very lightly fried and so moist and tender. It came on a fresh baguette with a salsa of tomatoes and onion. There was so much fish that I had to give up on the baguette in order to finish. R had salmon and cheese on homemade focaccia with pesto. He said it was also amazing. 

We wandered back to the hotel and spent our last hour just sitting in the park, enjoying the sun and sharing a Mendocino, which is 2 shortbread cookies filled with caramel and covered in chocolate. Heaven in a cookie.  

Birthday boy in his new hat

And then it was time to head to the airport :( The trip home was long, but uneventful, and we were not pleased to see snow at home upon our arrival. Please bring me back to the warm sunny days in Chile. 

Chile Day 4: Valparaiso

Tuesday morning we were pretty tired from the marathon day of hiking, but we roused ourselves to go to Valparaiso. Valparaiso is a city on the ocean that is a Unesco world heritage site and we heard great things about it.

We navigated the metro much more smoothly than on Saturday and bought our bus tickets also without issue. We used Turbus, and I would highly recommend it. The tickets were only $6, the bus was very clean, we had assigned seats, and they even played a movie. 

Our good luck ended when we got to Valparaiso. It was cloudy and cold and we were dressed for a warm summer day. Our first mission was to find sweatshirts. Secondly, the area around the bus station was pretty sketchy. We followed the directions the guy at the tourism booth in the station gave us to "the tourist district," but it never got any nicer.

The streets were narrow, crowded, loud, and dirty. We didn't feel safe and we never found anything good to do. We couldn't get near the ocean, and we couldn't see the supposedly picturesque colorful houses up in the hills because of the fog.

The one picture I took in Valpo of the only pretty building

We wandered around for a couple hours and then decided to cut our loses and head back to Santiago. We stopped to grab a couple of epanadas for lunch, and I ordered the "Napolitano," which was supposed to be like a pizza. Instead it was filled with hot dogs. Fail. Maybe we weren't prepared enough and maybe Valparaiso is better with a tour guide and a car, but I won't be going back any time soon.

Back in Santiago we took a bit to recompose ourselves and then headed to the Bellavista district for dinner. We knew we wanted another delicious teremoto cocktail and after my hot dog empanada fail I also wanted an English menu. We wandered the district for awhile checking out menus, but we were like Goldilocks and impossible to please. One place was too fancy, another didn't  have an English menu, and another didn't have teremotos. We finally decided to go back to Viva la Vida, where we had lunch 2 days before. Great choice. We had the back patio all to ourselves. We ordered the pitcher of teremoto this time, and it was giant. Just what we needed to erase the crappy memory of Valparaiso. 

giant pitcher of teremoto, you were so good.

We shared a salad of spinach, romaine, peppers, goat cheese, and a fresh basil dressing. It was great- crisp and fresh. The goat cheese had the texture of a cheddar instead of being soft and crumbly like in the US, but was really good. 

I figured since I was in Chile, I should have Chilean sea bass at least once. Holy goodness. It was a huge, tender, flaky piece of fish on top of onions, peppers, potatoes, and carrots, and topped with a spinach cream sauce. I can't even describe how good it was and I ate until I was about to explode. 

Chilean Sea Bass Perfection

We took a leisurely walk home through the park wonderfully full of delicious food and drink. Valpo was a bust, but dinner redeemed the day.