because low impact is a good thing.

Five days til fall break, here we gooooo

Hi - you are all AWESOME!!!!!!

Jean and Don

of Team Eden!

Rest for me today.

And....to my very favorite running partner, DeLaney: Happy 2nd Birthday! I love you!

Obviously. :)

AB, 7B, E.EL w/Judson. Well, actually quite a ways behind Judson this morning. Legs felt a bit more beat up by yesterday's run than I would have thought.

Yesterday, I ran only the last leg of our relay. Running Matt F's pace, Judson took the first two relay legs for 14.8mi and Matt H accompanied Matt F for the next 10K, leaving me all the glory and hardly any of the work. I was good for Matt's pace for about two miles and then I could tell he really wanted to go and catch the 2nd and 3rd place runners who were pretty plainly coming back to us. I summoned a little boost for that and Matt went rocketing forward, but I paid for that in the last three miles and had to let Matt go on his own.

That almost certainly is the only time in this lifetime that I'm going to get to see 2:39 on the clock when I cross a marathon finish line and it was certainly a privilege to run in that rarefied part of the field. So, with Matt pulling away with his sub-2:40 firmly in his own control over the last two miles I just tried mostly not to look like a complete fraud.

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, it was a lightning road trip down for us, leaving just before 3AM*, getting out around on the course by 6AM, running our respective legs, and then getting back in the car by 11. My internal clock got so skewed that, later, when I went out for a run with Nora along the shorepath just at dusk, it felt as if it must be midnight.

*As Judson said on the way out, as we pulled onto Eden Street blearily sucking on our travel mugs of coffee, "Whose idea was this, anyway?"

4 x 400 w/u
8 x 50 k/sw breast
8 x 50 dr/sw free

4 x 200 on 3:00 desc 2:45-2:37
6 x 50 dr/sw
4 x 200 on 3:00 desc 2:37-2:32
2 x 50 dr/sw
4 x 100 on 1:25

200 c/d dr/sw

Single-arm drill felt really good today.

DeLaney Bracey, a Terrific Two today (& Suzanne's favorite running partner), and Carey Donovan. Hoping you both are indulging in your favorite things today.

Another beautiful trot around EL with Amy, Britt, & Ethan. Thanks for the good company. Vanessa and I enjoyed a nice 3 mile stroll post-run.

It was great to see Karen & Julie looking good post-marathon. Congratulations to all of our marathon, 1/2 marathon and relay racers yesterday.

I caught two leaves...one required no alteration in course or pace. All I had to do was close my hand. Eagle Lake legend has it that if you catch a leaf that way (an immaculate reception) you are certain to have good luck throughout the rest of the day. Not long after this catch along came Vanessa. So there you are. I ran with her for a bit and also got a chance to see Karen, Julie and Kasch as they were out enjoying a post marathon walk.

Speaking of the Maine Marathon...(from the Charitable Donations page on their website)

Each year, event organizers designate a local charity as the main beneficiary of race proceeds, and entrants are invited to make additional donations to that charity. Proceeds from this year's race will go to benefit Center for Grieving Children, a local organization that provides support to grieving children, teens, families and the community through peer support, outreach, and education. In 2007, $35,000 was raised for WinterKids, a Maine-based program designed to fight childhood obesity through healthy winter activity. In addition, runners and walkers from two New England chapters of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program raised $265,000.

Yesterday was a nice day for a run. I pushed all the reasons I should not have been running out of my mind and enjoyed the day. I ran the first half with Don one of my southern Maine guy, ran probably 0.1 mile with Sara who made me believe that I looked great, got a great smile and water from Frank who is always at the right place at the right time, ran a great 7 miles with Katrina Bishimer (spelling???) from Bucksport, and ran the last 0.1 mile with Steve Joy. I also had great support from my husband and two boys, and my in-laws. It was a wonderful day. I simply cannot wait for the next one.

Overall I had a great weekend, spending time with running friends, family and completing my 7th marathon. The weather was perfect and I really liked the course, it was flatter than I expected, although I was out of it in the end and there may have been hills I walked up, I don't remember. I felt great for the first half then I'm not exactly sure what happened. I did notice that my mile splits were slowing down even though it felt like I was running very strong. When I realized I wasn't going to run 3:45 (big shocker:)) I didn't feel like running anymore. I stopped dead in my tracks for about 2 min. and used some guy's cell phone to tell Sara to come and get me. I told her I'd walk until she showed up. Well, she never showed up (tough love) and I'm SO GLAD she didn't. So I just started running just to get to her quicker. Then Frank appeared on the hill (mile 16) and I didn't want him to see me slumped over and walking so I ran up to him and he continued to run with me for a mile. I started to feel awesome again and after a discussion with Frank I decided to finish. Frank gave me water, gu and tissues and I loaded him down with all my extras, he stayed pretty much by my side the last 10 miles. Thank you so much Frank!

I'm not disappointed because I prepared myself for running much slower than I actually ran. I had a feeling I wasn't in shape to run 3:45 but I wanted to give it a shot anyways. I'm so happy I came back to life and finished. If I could change anything, I wouldn't have stopped to call Sara and I would have tried to push through miles 13-16 when I realized I was falling off. The idea of working hard for 2 more hours and not making my goal was too much, so ya, I was a baby for a while.

Now I want to go run MDI in 4 hours just to see what I could do if I went out more conservatively. Did I just say that??

And thanks for the reports. I've enjoyed my vicarious trip back to Portland for the race.

My knee was a bit sore today so I played on the machines (rowing and treadclimbing) for 30 minutes to get my blood moving. Hopefully it'll calm down again by tomorrow.

Morning: 5 miles on tar and hills, but slow.

Afternoon: the XC team played our cross sport friendly against the undefeated womens rugby team. Tomorrow is DEFINITELY a day off.

Thank you everyone for the race reports! You're making me itch to try a marathon too. Can anyone suggest a good spring marathon for a beginner...?

On the bike trainer.

Another thank you to all the Marathoners from the weekend for posting your reports. What a wonderful group we have here to draw from, lean on, and support. A rest day tomorrow for me.

is anyone interested in doing a team

After seven bridges eagle lake I managed to sneak in an extra mile+ while Brian worked his way back to Eagle lake parking lot. I could tell he'd run hard trying to stay with Matt in the marathon.

as Frank points out...

does anyone have a smaller canoe that I can use for the triathelon?

I can come get and will return...