It's official!

Dear Kathleen Rafish,

This is to notify you that your entry into the 115th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 18, 2011 has been accepted, provided that the information you submitted is accurate.

You can verify your acceptance into the field by searching the 115th Boston Marathon Entrants database on the B.A.A. web site. Additionally, a Confirmation of Acceptance card will be mailed to you via US Postal Service mail.

In early April 2011, an official Number Pick-up Card and Welcome Booklet regarding the B.A.A. Boston Marathon and related race week activities will be mailed to you via US Postal Service first class mail. If you do not receive your Number Pick-up Card (required to claim number) and brochure by April 9, please contact our Registration Office at registration@baa.org. Registration related inquiries may also be directed to 508-435-6905.

Note that bib numbers will not be distributed on Race Day. Your travel arrangements should take into account picking up your number at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center in Boston on Friday, April 15 from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., or Saturday, April 16 or Sunday, April 17 from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m

Get the best hotel rates by using the Official Lodging form from Marathon Tours and Travel. For more information, email info@marathontours.com or call 617-242-7845.

JetBlue is proud to be the official airline of the Boston Marathon. When you book your flight to the 2011 Boston Marathon, make sure you fly with JetBlue Airways. You'll receive $10 off each way! Learn more here.

For additional tourist information, please visit www.bostonusa.com

We look forward to seeing you in April! Best of luck in your training!

Sincerely,

Boston Athletic Association

Race recaps

I didn't let too much grass grow under my feet after St. George....since October 2nd I've run two 5k's and one 1/2 marathon and to make it even better - I PR'd in all three events!  I'm thrilled because my training since St. George has been less than impressive to say the least.

On October 16 I participated in a very small 5k, put on by a local gym and my former running coach; the secret to placing in your age group is running small races.  I don't recall the last 5k that I ran, it's been that long.  I have been so focused on running half and full marathons I never even considered shorter events.  I was the third female finisher; this earned me a medal and a pair of shoes.  My time was 24:30, a 7:46 pace; I came in 13th overall (I told you it was a small race).  The gym also has a Boot Camp program and they had set-up an obstacle course in the parking lot, I had never done anything like this so I gave it a try - wow, it was hard but really, really fun.  Their goal of sucking new people in to the program was met, I signed up for a month trial of the Boot Camp.

On the 17th I ran in an all women's half marathon; I had to get on a plane to Chicago at 1:30 that afternoon and the race didn't start until 9:00 a.m.  That meant my number one goal was to finish in less than 2 hours so I could have time to quickly clean-up & hit the airport.  It was a spectacular morning, 37 degrees at the start but crystal clear; a perfect day!  I ran with two friends and we thought we would start at an 8:30 pace and slow down if necessary.  My half PR was 1:55 and I was two weeks post marathon; I thought 8:30's would be a reach but I was just running for run that morning.  To my unbelievable surprise, I finished in 1:51 which is an 8:31 pace; a 4 minute PR.  I was astounded; we had a fabulous run and it felt EASY.  My new half goal is going to be 1:49; I'm running another half on December 12th and I think I will go for it!

Here we are post race, what a great group of ladies

I had to hustle off to the airport and didn't get to enjoy any of the marvelous post race festivities; chocolate, massages, etc.  Women's races are the bomb!

This past Saturday I ran in another small 5k (not quite as small as the first) and again was the 3rd female to finish; another PR 24:11  This was after being out of town for a week and not running one inch during this time.  I feel like I had more in me; my confidence is really improving, it was an area I needed to work on.

I need to get into a manageable schedule for running and cross training; it's been hard to get a handle on since St. George - any suggestions?

Have an awesome week.

St. George and the ensuing vacation, in photos

Near, very near the finish

We were so happy to be done; like the tiara? Check out the medal, they were some sort of polished local stone and they were very cool; each one was unique

The marathon logo, pretty cool

Bryce Canyon

Wind and rain at Bryce

Coming down one of the trails in Zion

Zion

Bryce

More from Bryce

Bryce was AMAZING, I have never seen anything like it

Prickly Pear Margarita; very yummy!

On the way home, through Las Vegas

This is out of order (Whoops) - the clothes behind us were picked up on the first 6 miles of the marathon course by volunteers and brought to the finish line for pick up.  Everything left at the end of the day donated to charity

Bryce Canyon

The Mormon Temple In St. George

Vicki and I on "Walters Wiggles" in Zion

On the trail in Zion, we live in a beautiful country

The Navajo Loop in Bryce

At Scouts Landing in Zion

Going down the Navajo Loop in Bryce

St. George Marathon Race Report (minus the photos)

I'm back to civilization, back to work and fully rested as I haven't run since the marathon (October 2nd). 

The short version in list form: 

• No PR
• No PW
• Warmest start EVER for this race
• High on marathon day - 93

The long(er) version.....

We flew into Vegas on Friday morning, rented a car and drove to St. George (about 2 hours). It was HOT, there was no getting around this fact.  We hit up the Expo right away, picked up our packets and checked out all the goodies.  The race shirt is awesome, I absolutely love it; it is a long sleeve dri-fit and has just the race logo on the front.  It is not full of advertising; in fact, if you didn't know what the race logo looked like you would never know what event the shirt was from.  A nice change from shirts that have way too many sponsors and graphics.

We checked into our hotel, which I would highly recommend, and went to see what the City had to offer.....now keep in mind that I was in Southern Utah, in a town of less than 50,000.  Our first stop was the Mormon Temple and lightning did not strike me as we walked onto the grounds.  It is an older building and the grounds are very well kept.  I couldn't believe how much the Church influenced everything in the State; it is very different from what I am used to regarding the separation of Church and State.

We found a place to have all you can eat pasta for dinner and then walked from our hotel to check out the bus loading & finish areas.  The buses began loading at 4:00 a.m.  We decided we would try to catch the bus around 4:30 a.m.  The bus loading was smooth that early and we got to the start by about 5:15 a.m.

They had Gatorade, hot chocolate, water and coffee at the start; there were bon fires lit to keep the runners warm while we waited.  I didn't think it was that cold, but they normally have temps in the 30's at the start.  My only issue at the start was that the porta potties ran out of toilet paper very early and they didn't seem to get re-stocked.  I need to add that this is my only complaint about this event.

I was wearing two birthday tiaras; it was interesting how people responded to the tiaras.  Some wished me Happy Birthday, some called me Princess but largely I got weird looks - oh well, I really didn't care what anybody else thought.

My goal was 3:53 and my friend Vicki was shooting for 4:15 so we said our goodbyes and jumped in with the respective pace groups.  The first 7 miles were absolutely awesome, nice and easy downhill; I was already warm though and was having some GI distress.  There is a decent hill at mile 7 and this is also where we started running into the sun FOR THE ENTIRE REST of the race.  I hit the porta potty at the top of hill and hunkered down for gradual uphill until mile 14; I was pretty warm by this point and was realizing this course wasn't nearly as "easy" as I thought it would be.  I think I hit the porta potties 3 times :-(

I slowed down and at mile 11 Vicki came up behind me; I had lost the 3:50 pace group during my potty stop but was still ahead of the 4:00 group at this point.  Vicki's plan had been to get some time in the bank early and have reserves available as the miles grew and the temperatures went up.  We were really glad to see each other at this point and settled in together.  I was  pretty darn sure at this point that a PR wasn't in the cards. 

I don't have my splits with me right now, but the wheels kind of fell off on the hills and the heat was getting to me.  Vicki was really feeling the affects of the heat as well so we decided to walk the hills and run the flats & downhills and just get to the finish together.  This was the 20th marathon for each of us.

I dumped water over my head and down the back of my shirt at every aid station; I have never done this before.

The course was not a spectator friendly course at all; the road is closed and it is very difficult to get around so until about mile 22 or so there was hardly anyone on the course to cheer us on. When we got to town though the spectators were great; there was one neighborhood where the residents were handing out popsicles - a popsicle has never tasted so good. 

I finished in 4:24, this is pretty far off what I had hoped to do, but I'm o.k. with it.  My pace when I was running was decent, but the frequent walk breaks really dropped the average pace per mile.  I have never seen so many people walk on a marathon course; the heat took its' toll on many, many runners that day.

The medal is very cool; it is a polished stone and every one is different - a very unique memento from the event.

Photos will follow........

Happy Friday!

7 days, 21 hours and counting

That's how close my marathon is; it will be here before I know it.  I really felt like I was ready and then......I went to weather.com and saw this:

Sat
Oct 2

Mostly Sunny

HIGH 95°
LOW 66°

0%

YUCK, with a 6:45 a.m. start it is going to warm for the entire 26.2 miles; at least they are mostly downhill miles.

Happy running this weekend.

22-miler is in the books!

It is officially taper time; St. George is a mere 17 days away and I feel like I am ready, or at least as ready as I can be.

On Saturday morning I did a 4-mile pace run and am happy with the results:

1-1/2 mile warm-up
Mile 1:  8:04
Mile 2:  8:14
Mile 3:  8:10
Mile 4:  8:12
1/2 mile cool down

I was supposed to stay in the 8:20 - 8:25 range, which is about 20 seconds faster than my goal pace; obviously I didn't do too well in that respect.  Maybe this means I am going to bust out an unbelievable marathon or maybe it means I need to work on my pacing......

On Sunday morning I was up & out the door bright and early to meet Vicki for our 22 miler; she mapped out a great course in the Wilsonville/Sherwood area, which is just a little South of Portland.  It is a beautiful, more "pastoral", area and a very nice change from the city.  Our friend Pat met us for the first 8-mile loop so we donned our safety vests & head lamps and headed out into the darkness; we enjoyed a nice and easy pace for this portion of the run.  This part of the course was relatively flat, but I knew the hills were coming.  We dropped Pat off at the car, grabbed our sunglasses, hit the restroom at Starbucks and took back off. 

The next 18 miles clicked by as we chatted and enjoyed the beautiful countryside; it was a spectacular morning in the Northwest and just a pleasure to be outside.  We climbed some pretty good hills and I found a nice little 12 acre piece of property, with a house, that could be mine for a mere 1.2 million :-)

We made it back to the cars (and Starbucks) with an average pace of 9:37 for the distance; we even ended up with negative splits, I don't think I have ever had negative splits on a long run before.  I was tired when I finished but knew I could have gone 26.2

It was intentional that I did my pace run on Saturday and my long run on Sunday; I was supposed to be fatigued for Sunday's run.  I was supposed to run on Monday, but I decided to take a rest day, I was tired and will run Tuesday instead. 

It is all coming together; we will see how I fare on race day.  I decided to run with the 3:50 pace group, my goal for St. George is 3:53.  I think it is a realistic goal.  Check out the elevation map of the course:



 There is a 2,600 foot elevation loss over the length of the race; I think it is going to be a good PR course for me.  I may not be able to walk on Sunday morning though; as this much downhill could take a toll on my knees and quads.

As an extra added bonus, the race is on my birthday - a birthday PR would be the best!

Hood to Coast Race Report

Another Hood to Coast (HTC) has been completed; this was my 7th HTC and the 7th different leg I have run.  My long term goal for HTC is to run every leg; I would then honestly be able to say I've experienced the entire race.

Here are some stats:

Fastest Team Finish:                 17:24
Slowest Team Finish:                33:19
"Our" Team Finish:                   28:54

Our team (Van 1) started at Timberline Lodge at noon on Friday, August 27th; I was in Van 2 and we took over from Van 1 around 5:00 p.m. Friday afternoon in beautiful Sandy, Oregon.  I was running leg 10 so I had a while to wait for my first leg.  There are 6 runners per van so Van 1 runs legs 1-6, 13-18, and 25-30; this leaves Van 2 to run legs 7-12, 19-24 and 31-36.

Rea and I waiting at one of the exchanges during our first set of legs

Rob rocked the pink safety vest; his manhood remained intact

My goal for HTC was to run all my legs at an 8:30 pace; you could argue either that I failed or that I succeeded.  Here are the numbers:

Leg 10
6.18 miles
8:14 average pace

Leg 22
6.93 miles
8:20 average pace

Leg 34
4.11 miles
8:31 average pace

As you can see two of the three runs were less than an 8:30 pace, but one was very slightly over (8:31).  So, they were not all 8:30 or better, but the average was better than 8:30 :-)  I'm really mad at myself because on my third leg I walked a bit up one hill; had I not done this I would have gotten my sub-8:30's on all three legs.  I was really tired by this point and while this leg was the shortest of my legs, there were three hills; one at the beginning, one in the middle and one at the end.

If you've never run a relay, you can't appreciate how important porta potties become to you and how much you love the guys that keep them clean for you along the course

Post race at the beach, this guy ran dressed like this - you see it all at HTC!

I never saw these gals on the course, but they rocked it at the finish line.  By this time I had run 18+ miles, hadn't had any sleep and had consumed two beers; I was feeling no pain.  Obviously Andrew and Mark (from my team) enjoyed these ladies

Seaside, Oregon

A team mate of the dude in the earlier photo

Great music and cold beer; what more could you ask for?

This was taken at the last major exchange and is one of the "sleeping" areas; although not much sleeping happened here.

I can't wait for next year........happy running!