I am hoping that after a series of unfortunate events at races, luck will turn around and be on my side. After the Philly incident (missing Boston-Qualifying by three minutes), I took some steps to make sure that wouldn’t happen in my next marathon. I adjusted my physique (lost 14 pounds and did more strength training), I started up with speedwork, and I went back to doing yoga. Last Sunday was a race called the Boston Prep 16-miler. I thought I would do well because I had been running well on hills and I had been hitting my goals in track workouts - I felt like I was back to my “old self” running-wise. In addition, I had a pacing and nutrition strategy (in Philly I started at my desired marathon pace and I brought water instead of sports drink) - here I planned on starting out slowly, and speeding up to do 8 minute or so miles.

After carbo-loading on Saturday, I woke up on Sunday with pain in my chest, coughing up phlegm (ewwww) and with a resting heartrate much higher than normal. Uh oh. Well, I might as well try my best since I am signed up right? The worst that could happen? I could be slow and I could get more sick. I am already sick, and if I go slow, it would still be a training run which I could use. So, I took some Robitussin so I wouldn’t be coughing the whole way as it was pretty cold out.

I get to Derry and it was snowing hard. I had just gotten yax trax, but I had not thought I would need them so I left them at home. I started out with my husband and two friends since we’re all around the same pace. We ran together for the first half, it was definitely slower than expected because of the snow. It was challenging to maneuver and if you found the pavement “trail”, it was much easier, but people could get in the way. I was okay for the first half, but the second half, my body was just not having it - I told my two friends I wasn’t feeling well and dropped back. Whatever it is I have (still) made me very weak. I slowed down to a crawl and had to walk quite a bit. The cutoff was 3 hours, but it was very cold so I didn’t want to walk because I was all wet and my body temp could drop a lot, but least I wasn’t coughing b/c the medicine was still in effect because it hurts when I cough. So, I pretty much jogged until the end - even though I felt very beat and it was even hard to do that, the snow looked really nice so I wasn’t really in a miserable mood. I finished very slowly but at least I got a 16 mile training run in.

Anyways, on a brighter note - about fashion & completely unrelated to racing - I am extremely psyched that one of my favorite stores, H&M, will be carrying clothes from one of my favorite designers, Marimekko, this summer! It is coming in April. I haven’t seen any photos of the garments, but here is where I saw the info. I will be popping-in regularly in April to see when they get it in, because it is likely that the collection will sell-out quickly (they might send an email about it).