Sunday, April 7, 2013

To DO's and To DON'Ts


The recent bulletin board post traffic has inspired me to re-post this….  So here it is – pretty much a cut and paste job, with a few changes. 
ENJOY!
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teammates - 7 days from today we’ll be off and running, for real.  i, as a 
15 year vet, want to impart some wisdom (baaahaaahaaa) on what to do and but probably more important what NOT to do during these last few days before your 26.2 mile jaunt from Hopkinton to Boston.  although i attempt to be funny - everything below is taken from personal experience.
they are in no particular order, so here goes....

ladies, if you haven't gotten a pedicure, go NOW and go DARK, do not wait another day. if you're thinking "it can wait 'till after" think again. trust me, you will not want anyone touching those tootsies the week after. not to mention, you don't want to see what’s going on under that polish nor does the person who has to go to work on them - there's no tip large enough to put another human through that.

unfortunately, most of us have 5 days of (unproductive) work this week. don’t iron your pants while they are on your body. i know i know you’ve been running and your quads are rock hard but seriously, risking 3rd degree burns is just stupid.

drink water - pretty obvious, right? but here's the deal, if you aren't in the habit of drinking a lot of H2O, pounding it sunday afternoon will shock your system - BAD news!

don't over carb early in the week, not only is it unnecessary, it'll just make you feel like crap.

continuing that same idea, don't do anything drastically different to your diet or supplement intake. Like taking iron pills or going vegan.  that said, you might want to stay away from the fried food, excess sugar and big macs.

cool the boozin' monday, tuesday, wednesday, friday&saturday. sunday night on the other hand, you may need a glass of wine to help you sleep. HA! you could drink the whole bottle, you're still not going to be able to sleep.

get a rub - massage works wonders.  use it in lieu of a workout especially early in the week.  It will rock the muscles and help to relax you for sure. just one thought - if you're thinking you could really use a good hard one, i mean who couldn't, go before Wednesday or Thursday the latest, because if it's any good - you'll be feeling it the next day.

don't go food shopping in flip flops – seems obvious but if your grocery store is next to your pedicurist it is realistic and you can't control someone else carriage and it could roll over your toes (wrecking your pedicure among other things).

this week rid your world of people who suck - i mean it. surround yourself with people who will pump you up, help calm you down, and who make you feel as great as you are – because you are.

if you haven't already, start a journal - not a blog - a personal journal for you and you alone. it'll allow you to look back and laugh at how freakin' nervous, excited, anxious, etc. you were. you can't get these feeling and emotions back but writing them down will allow you to visit them whenever you want.

go for a good, hard 10 mile woodland-crossroads run on thursday - KIDDING.... just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

pack today – yes today.  this week will go by so fast, trust me and you don’t want to leave it – marathon day packing – until the weekend because the weekend is chaos and you won’t be able to think straight.  start slowly with things you already have like your singlet, shoes, socks, shorts, gender specific undergarments, etc.  then add the things you pick up over the weekend, bib number & DFMC bracelet, (I feel like I’m missing something – good thing I have 6 days to figure it out) and last throw in the add-ons – things that are not necessarily critical but items you’d be pissed and tormented about if you forgot them, watch, GU, trinkets, post-race comfy clothes & flip flops, etc. 

listen to the JACKISM's - less is more - the hay's in the barn - the pennies are in the bank! if you do not run another step between now and the 15th, you're going to be fine. the objective is to "roll up to the starting line {insert jack hands here} feeling loose."

take a trip to the JFC if you can, there a lot of kids there you won't see at mile 25. if you need any inspiration at all you will certainly get it there.

gals (and some of you dudes) - don't wait until monday AM to shave. and you waxers - go soon but GO don’t skip it (yet another event that it awkwardly awful post-marathon). in either case, tight clothes, sweat, rubbing, UGH!

do-do-do make it personal! every day stop and think about what you are doing and who you are doing it for. maybe it’s a family member or a friend or a co-worker or a friend of a co-worker. think about the days when you were able to postpone a run for better weather or more sleep. well those people can’t postpone what they are going through - chemo doesn’t stop just because it’s raining (thanks Les!).

Gel/GU/Hammer/Blocks/Beans & Gatorade - if you haven't trained with them, don't go grabbing for it at mile 17. it might help - but then again it might not and who knows how long the line at the fire station will be when IT wants out - fast and furiously.

stay close to the ground... your shoes... stay off the stiletto's. no question they are hot, especially since your legs are fabulous and heels make them look better AND it is finally skirt weather, but this will be the week you fall off of them.
“but laurie - the “commuter look” running sneakers with the short skirt is terrible”… okay fine – i’ll the amended this one BUT if you wake up late and your see the bus pulling away from the stop , do not make a run for it (this goes for flip flops too). let's face it, you’re going to be late. who are you kidding, if you had to run in the first place, you were already going to be late.

STOP looking at the freakin’ weather report! folks it’s new england it changes hourly. it doesn’t matter – the gun is still going off at 10/10:40 and you are going to run - PERIOD.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ - get them! try to get as much good quality sleep as you can this week.

wash it twice - if you are going to wear new ANYTHING - socks, shorts, sports bra, shorts, whatever - wash it first, and twice if necessary.

buy racing flats at the expo on satuday and wear them for the first time on monday - kidding of course (seriously, what a-hole does that?!).

don't freak if out of the blue you have a joint or muscle pain, they're called phantom pains, it's in your head, you are fine.

for crying out loud, send out your damn fundraising letter (yup that one's for me yet again this year).

lube, lube, lube! on monday you're gonna need it EVERYWHERE - your sports bra, nipples, belly button, nether region, armpits, toes, thighs, you name it, just vas the crap out of yourself, and for goodness sake, don't be modest. but if you are, just yell out "no one look over here i'm lubing!" that'll definitely keep people from peeking.

hug as many people as you can, actually just hug fast people, they'll make you faster by osmosis.
and last but seriously not least, if you are not feeling "right" physically or mentally... talk to someone, a friend, a teammate, or our beloved coach jack. i've leaned on him for 15 years now. trust me when I say, it doesn't matter how experienced you think you are, he can talk you off the ledge and give you the necessary & magical information that will make MONDAY, APRIL 15th one of the best days of your life.

7 days.... GULP....

taper
run
celebrate

Friday, April 5, 2013

3 years ago i was a blogger


DFMC Friends - Something great happened recently… I found this blog.  Yes, it’s my blog which, for the last 2-3 years, I’ve only used for the purpose of selling my training shirts.  This of course explains how I stumbled back on it.  However this time I wasn’t in such a rush to post and be done for another 365 days, I actually re-read a bunch of posts.  I laughed, I cried, but mostly I got pissed.  Apparently my life is so f-ing busy that I can’t sit down and write about the craziness of life, training and everything else that goes along with this DFMC journey.  Once upon a time I actually posted stuff that was pretty good, (like the To Do’s and To Don’t’s - which will reappear later) it was mostly random but entertaining nonetheless.
The last time I posted something that WASN’T training shirt related or the aforementioned To Do’s and To Don’ts was December 2009 which of course makes sense, I mean not much has happened in that last 3 years…
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 - “A couple of weeks ago my hot water heater crapped out on me. Being totally overwhelmed I did what I always do – called my sister. She listened, offered her advice and of course pitied my bad luck. At the end of my bitching we chatted about family stuff. She informed me that she had spoken to my mother and that Mary’s (my cousin’s wife) sister Gina wasn’t doing well. Lung cancer. All of a sudden my hot water heater didn’t seem like such a big deal.
The next day I dealt with my water heater.
That same day Gina died.”
After that Tuesday I only blogged 2 more times and while I’m sure I sold a lot of shirts, I never mention that a week or so later my closest dearest Uncle Paul was diagnosed with cancer.  And the following May he died.  I didn’t talk about how my sister got seriously injured 30 days before the marathon in 2010, yet lined up at the starting line anyway.  She did it for my uncle and got through it because of him.  That year over 4,000 registered runners either didn’t show up or didn’t finish.  She ran and it hurt (A LOT) but like those battling cancer, especially my uncle, quitting was not an option. 
Last year with the temperature in the 90s my teammates and I (4 months post-partum, oh yeah *that* happened during my 3 year blog absence) were not only given the option to defer but it was strongly suggested by the BAA.  On April 16th we all showed up and we all ran.  It was hot, it was ugly, we didn’t PR but quitting was not an option.
This spirit epitomizes the reasons why we run for Dana-Farber.  We will not quit because we are not done.

RUN
don't quit

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

2013 Training Shirts - WE RUN ON DFMC!

long sleeve shirts are $40
short sleeve (women's only) are $30

LIMITED QUANTITIES

Men - your shirts are black on BOTH sides
Women - yours are black on the front and pink on the back

more info
- gender sizing
- women's are FITTED (recommend going up a size)
- i will take cash, check or donation to my page www.runDFMC.org/2013/LaurieN
- out of state shipping ONLY (sorry, but there is no in-state shipping)



I will be at Shifter's race, the DFMC runner check-in on Marathon weekend and the DFMC Pasta Party

Email me if you have other questions or if you want me to hold one aside for you.
laurienahigian.dfmc@gmail.com

ONE MORE THING - 2012 shirts available for $15