So since my last blog, the wife and I have been fairly busy. First though I must point out that Karina was rear ended by a hung over Bruins fan this past Thursday. She stopped to let a pedestrian cross the road, and apparently the guy behind her wasn't paying enough attention. She is okay, had some minor whiplash, but seems to be recovering well. Her car is going to need some work, but the rear bumper worked exactly how a bumper should.
Speaking of cars, we finally got a second one. Since we are planning on moving out of our current apartment to an area where I wouldn't be able to take public transportation to school, was going to need a second car. I am now completely mobile and don't have to bum rides off of people, which I am sure those people who I bummed rides off of are happy. While we were out working out the details for the car, we got a call from one of the apartment places we were looking at. The apartment we wanted had become available and we needed to put a deposit down to secure it before someone else snatched it up. So we ended up with a new apartment and a new car all in the same day. On top of all that we changed up some financial stuff, and came to the realization that we may very well be growing up and becoming more responsible.
On the running scene, I am in the weird post event/race phase were I am just running to maintain fitness, and not training for anything in particular. This is a actually the hardest time for me because with nothing to focus on, tend to start feeling lazy and want to skip runs. However, I need to keep at it as I need to be ready to start marathon training in a couple more weeks.
As a final note, spent some time on the golf range the other day and am proud to say I didn't slice a single ball. Hit some fades, but I can live with a fade if I can cut back on how often I slice. I attribute this feat to going back and relearning some golf basics, such as the proper grip, and remembering that you don't hit a golf ball, you swing a golf club.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
New England Relay - Done.
So I have now ran/driven through all of New England. It was a bunch of fun, and I will consider doing it again next year if they hold it again. Officially I ran 26.4 miles, but according to my Garmin it was closer to 27. If you add up my times across all three legs that I ran, I would have ran the distance in 3:32:00, which would be a massive marathon PR for me. The question now becomes, how well would I have ran across a full 26 miles with out stopping and resting for up to 8-9 hours between legs. I don't know if it still would have been that fast, but while running this past weekend I noticed that I am a far stronger runner right now then I was last year.
Leg 1: 8.1 officially, 8.45 on my Garmin. I ran this leg in 1:08:59, or 8:09 minute per mile pace. This leg started with a 300 foot climb within the first mile and a half. What was great was that when I started the leg I couldn't see the hill, and I was running along a nice flat section for about an eighth of a mile. Having hardly ran at all on our honeymoon, my legs were nice and rested and I was thinking to myself, man my legs feel great. Then I took a right turn and saw the hell and went oh hell. I am proud to say I didn't stop to walk at all as I went up the hill, though my quads were starting to hurt a lot by the time I got to the top. From there the entire run was almost completely downhill, and in case you didn't know, it is actually far worse on your legs to run downhill then up. It can also be a bit dangerous as gravity kind of just drags you along and you can reach speeds that are hard to slow down from. One of the things I was trying to do was to keep my paces relatively slow as I knew from my overnight relay last year that your legs could just be completely dead by the time you reach the third leg. With all the downhill running though it was hard to keep the pace around 8:30, so this leg was a bit fast.
Leg 2: 6.9 officially, 6.97 on the Garmin. I ran this leg in 53:15. Out of the three legs, this one was the most fun, nerve racking, and speedy of the three. Fun because it was ran late at night in the rain, which running in the dark can be fun and I enjoy running in the rain; nerve racking because it was night and raining and I was running down route 9 in New Hampshire, so the few cars on the road were of course flying down the road; speedy because again the run was mostly down hill. This leg again started with a 300 foot climb. As soon as reached the top of this hill, I immediately started the speediest section of all three of my legs as I started a downhill run that was just over one mile in length. While there were a couple more uphills over the rest of the leg, it was pretty much all downhill till it flattened out just after mile 5 and by the time I was able to carry my momentum till the finish. Because of the long downhill, my average pace for this leg was 7:38, way faster than I wanted, and I could tell by the time I finished that my legs were really tired and that the third leg was going to be tough.
Leg 3: 11.1 officially, 11.45 on the Garmin. I ran this leg in 1:31:04. After running the first two legs faster than I wanted, I knew that I was going to be tired for this leg. This leg thankfully didn't have a 300 foot climb at the start, and while it did go from 400 foot back to around sea level, it was stretched over 11 miles, so I didn't really notice the downhill running as much. I must have psyched myself up a little because my first four miles were all around or under 7:30 pace. After that I started to slow down some, but overall I generally kept the pace under 8:30. By the time I hit the last two miles, part of me wanted to stop and walk some because my quads were just done for the day, but I knew if I stopped that I would not be able to get going again, so I toughed it out and finished, though I did walk for about 30 seconds over the final hill.
I am really surprised at how much stronger a runner I am right now then I was a year ago. If my marathon training goes well this year, it will be interesting of what my time goal will be for the marathon. I currently have a goal in mind and I may have to adjust it slightly just based off of how well I ran this weekend. But for now I just have a few weeks of maintenance runs, and then marathon training starts at the beginning of July.
Leg 1: 8.1 officially, 8.45 on my Garmin. I ran this leg in 1:08:59, or 8:09 minute per mile pace. This leg started with a 300 foot climb within the first mile and a half. What was great was that when I started the leg I couldn't see the hill, and I was running along a nice flat section for about an eighth of a mile. Having hardly ran at all on our honeymoon, my legs were nice and rested and I was thinking to myself, man my legs feel great. Then I took a right turn and saw the hell and went oh hell. I am proud to say I didn't stop to walk at all as I went up the hill, though my quads were starting to hurt a lot by the time I got to the top. From there the entire run was almost completely downhill, and in case you didn't know, it is actually far worse on your legs to run downhill then up. It can also be a bit dangerous as gravity kind of just drags you along and you can reach speeds that are hard to slow down from. One of the things I was trying to do was to keep my paces relatively slow as I knew from my overnight relay last year that your legs could just be completely dead by the time you reach the third leg. With all the downhill running though it was hard to keep the pace around 8:30, so this leg was a bit fast.
Leg 2: 6.9 officially, 6.97 on the Garmin. I ran this leg in 53:15. Out of the three legs, this one was the most fun, nerve racking, and speedy of the three. Fun because it was ran late at night in the rain, which running in the dark can be fun and I enjoy running in the rain; nerve racking because it was night and raining and I was running down route 9 in New Hampshire, so the few cars on the road were of course flying down the road; speedy because again the run was mostly down hill. This leg again started with a 300 foot climb. As soon as reached the top of this hill, I immediately started the speediest section of all three of my legs as I started a downhill run that was just over one mile in length. While there were a couple more uphills over the rest of the leg, it was pretty much all downhill till it flattened out just after mile 5 and by the time I was able to carry my momentum till the finish. Because of the long downhill, my average pace for this leg was 7:38, way faster than I wanted, and I could tell by the time I finished that my legs were really tired and that the third leg was going to be tough.
Leg 3: 11.1 officially, 11.45 on the Garmin. I ran this leg in 1:31:04. After running the first two legs faster than I wanted, I knew that I was going to be tired for this leg. This leg thankfully didn't have a 300 foot climb at the start, and while it did go from 400 foot back to around sea level, it was stretched over 11 miles, so I didn't really notice the downhill running as much. I must have psyched myself up a little because my first four miles were all around or under 7:30 pace. After that I started to slow down some, but overall I generally kept the pace under 8:30. By the time I hit the last two miles, part of me wanted to stop and walk some because my quads were just done for the day, but I knew if I stopped that I would not be able to get going again, so I toughed it out and finished, though I did walk for about 30 seconds over the final hill.
I am really surprised at how much stronger a runner I am right now then I was a year ago. If my marathon training goes well this year, it will be interesting of what my time goal will be for the marathon. I currently have a goal in mind and I may have to adjust it slightly just based off of how well I ran this weekend. But for now I just have a few weeks of maintenance runs, and then marathon training starts at the beginning of July.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Here comes the New England Relay...
..but first, for those of you who have been following the blog to catch all the honeymoon details, since we our of course back, I must warn you that there will be no more blogs about the honeymoon, our from Karina (at least not in the near future). I have no idea if Karina plans on ever starting her own blog, so those of you that loved her blog posts will need to bug her about. However, since this is my blog, be prepared to read my random thoughts on numerous subjects. If you were just following for the honeymoon, this would be the time to stop following this blog. So without further ado...
So we have been back almost a week now, and I must say that while I miss being on vacation, I am also in a position right now where I don't have any classes till the fall, and I am only working twenty hours a week, so I really have a lot of free time. Heck, I will have a three day weekend the entire summer, so needless to say I am going to stay pretty relaxed till September comes around. This will of course give me plenty of time to focus on my marathon training, which doesn't officially start until the beginning of July. But before I can think about that, need to get through this weekend first.
I am running the New England Relay this weekend, which is an overnight relay. For those of you that don't know what that is, an overnight relay is a relay race consisting of teams running from one location to another with the course length usually measuring around 200+ miles total, broken up into 36 legs. There is 12 members per team, with each member running 3 legs each. The team is split into two vans, so there is 6 runners in each van. From the time we start tomorrow morning till our last team member crosses the finish line there will constantly be someone running (thus overnight). This relay will be starting in Rhode Island, crossing into Connecticut and then Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and then finishing in Maine, thereby running a little bit in every New England state. I have been chosen to run the 3 legs that when totaled together will equal 26.4 miles, or what is known as the "marathon leg". While I may be running more than any of my other teammates, and after coming back from our honeymoon where I hardly ran at all, I am actually feeling pretty good about this. I will have about 6 hours or so between each leg to rest, so as long as I pace myself properly I will be fine. I actually did another overnight relay last year on the Cape, and had a blast doing it, so hoping that this one will be just as good. Will be writing about how it goes sometime next week.
So we have been back almost a week now, and I must say that while I miss being on vacation, I am also in a position right now where I don't have any classes till the fall, and I am only working twenty hours a week, so I really have a lot of free time. Heck, I will have a three day weekend the entire summer, so needless to say I am going to stay pretty relaxed till September comes around. This will of course give me plenty of time to focus on my marathon training, which doesn't officially start until the beginning of July. But before I can think about that, need to get through this weekend first.
I am running the New England Relay this weekend, which is an overnight relay. For those of you that don't know what that is, an overnight relay is a relay race consisting of teams running from one location to another with the course length usually measuring around 200+ miles total, broken up into 36 legs. There is 12 members per team, with each member running 3 legs each. The team is split into two vans, so there is 6 runners in each van. From the time we start tomorrow morning till our last team member crosses the finish line there will constantly be someone running (thus overnight). This relay will be starting in Rhode Island, crossing into Connecticut and then Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and then finishing in Maine, thereby running a little bit in every New England state. I have been chosen to run the 3 legs that when totaled together will equal 26.4 miles, or what is known as the "marathon leg". While I may be running more than any of my other teammates, and after coming back from our honeymoon where I hardly ran at all, I am actually feeling pretty good about this. I will have about 6 hours or so between each leg to rest, so as long as I pace myself properly I will be fine. I actually did another overnight relay last year on the Cape, and had a blast doing it, so hoping that this one will be just as good. Will be writing about how it goes sometime next week.
Monday, June 6, 2011
From AMboise to AMerica
Well we are home after an amazing two weeks abroad. First day back at work today and while it was good to see my friends, if they could all have just joined me in the Loire Valley I would be happy to see them there too.
Ahhhh the Loire Valley, what more is there to say really except that the whole experience was amazing, almost religious. I felt instantly connected to this beautiful place the moment we stepped out of the small but tidy train station. Even though we were about a mile from the city center and there was not much around, everything was so calm and so peaceful - there was such a positive energy there. We stayed in a town called Amboise in a perfectly perfect B&B called Le Vieux Manoir. Anyone traveling to this area, I encourage you to check this place out - outstanding rooms and outstanding hospitality.
There are more photos than usual in this blog as I could not decide which photos to include so I included a few more than you are all used to.
First a few photos of this AMAZING B&B - as beautiful as the website was, the real thing will blow you away. The photo below is of the front door
This photo is of the house from the front, capturing the gorgeous fountain that plays a pivotal part of the landscaping.
A view of the house right in front of the front gate, with the guest cottage on the right side - it is also rented out
We arrived in Amboise on Wednesday and after dropping off our things, we headed out for a tour of several of the area chateaus. The first one we visited was Cheverny (pictured below)
This is one of the smaller chateaus (even though it is still pretty damn big) and interestingly enough, the current owners still occupy one of the wings of the house - they have a separate entrance but are frequently seen around the house and the grounds by the tourists. This house has been owned by the same family since it was built several hundred years ago which is a rarity as we learned from our tour guide since so many chateaus changed hands as a result of wars or in invasions.
Another interesting thing about this house is that the current owner keeps 100 hounds as hunting dogs, one of which can be seen below. They are all kept a few hundred feet away from the main house where visitors can see them playing.
The next chateau we visited was Chambord. This chateau is the second biggest in France after Versailles. There are over 400 rooms, over 300 windows, and 30+ fireplaces. Francois the first, who built this chateau as a sign of his immense wealth and extravagant taste only spent 29 nights here in total...EVER. After hearing this, it's not hard to see why there was a revolution. I mean wouldn't you revolt if your king built a castle that could house a small village and then never spent any time in it? Talk about a show off.
Well out of 400+ rooms, only 70 have furniture in them and out of those only 17 are open to the public so needless to say there isn't a ton to see inside (I mean let's face it, it IS mostly about the exterior don't you think). One thing that WAS very interesting was the double staircase that was created by Leonardo DaVinci (duh). Chris and I experimented since I, being ever the skeptic, did not believe that this fancy shmancy staircase was the real deal...well I was wrong, it is the real deal. After about 15 minutes of explanation, I think I finally understand how it works (clearly I'm not the biggest chateau in the Loire Valley when it comes to this science stuff). Not surprisingly we were could by our tour guide that this staircase was used primarily to avoid awkward conversations between wives and mistresses.
Here is a photo of a small church on the Chambord grounds that I just thought was nifty
We finished off out first night in the Loire Valley by going to an UNBELIEVABLE restaurant in Amboise called L'Epicerie. There, we sipped on some of the local wine while having a four course meal that blew us away (the highlight was OF COURSE the cheese....oh the cheese...I don't think I will ever forget that cheese...this cheese was like the Prince William and Kate Middleton of cheeses...so yes it was worth all the hoopla : )
The next morning, having missed our second tour (my ONE planning faux pas of the entire trip) we decided to spend the day in Amboise (well we didn't decide as much as we didn't have a choice because we didn't have a car) but luckily there is plenty to see in Amboise so we were never bored.
We started out at Close Luce, the home of Leonardo DaVinci for the last three years of his life (1516-1519). Legend has it that this house was connected to an underground tunnel to the Chateau D'Amboise and DaVinci could see the chateau from his bedroom window which he loved.
The next two photos are just a few of the ones i took in the Garden right after walking out of the main house (unfortunately no photos allowed in the house)
The color of these roses was sickeningly perfect. The most pure pink I think I have ever seen.
There was a lot of ground to cover in DaVinci's "backyard". One photo I have included here is of a densely wooded area in which hung almost transparent versions of some of his greatest works. It really was rather mystifying.
And last but not least a view of the house itself. Not too shabby, eh?
Now jump to the chateau in Amboise. Next up, is the man himself (or his (second) final resting spot). Yes what you are looking at is the final resting place of Leonardo DaVinci. I say his second final resting place because he was actually buried elsewhere on the chateau grounds but was moved after several hundred years. He now resides in a chapel that is located high above the town on Amboise - a great tribute to a great man.
Here is a view of one of the main streets in Amboise from atop the chateau
Here is a view of the back of the castle. This is a pretty massive castle to begin with but can you believe that the current size of the chateau is actually only 1/5 it's original size?!?! Due to several "conflicts", parts of the castle were destroyed over the years leaving only what we see today
Here is the hubs standing along one of the beautiful paths in the garden behind the castle. Notice the perfectly pruned trees and shrubs
A big tree
And here is where it all comes to an end - below are photos of my wonderful husband Chris and myself at our last dinner in France. Notice the delicious glass of wine in Chris' hand - oh how I miss it!
Our honeymoon may be over, but the memories and the fun we have had will undoubtedly live on forever - this really truly was a journey of a lifetime....GO TEAM!!!
oh and by the way Skittle - we lost Beth!!
Ahhhh the Loire Valley, what more is there to say really except that the whole experience was amazing, almost religious. I felt instantly connected to this beautiful place the moment we stepped out of the small but tidy train station. Even though we were about a mile from the city center and there was not much around, everything was so calm and so peaceful - there was such a positive energy there. We stayed in a town called Amboise in a perfectly perfect B&B called Le Vieux Manoir. Anyone traveling to this area, I encourage you to check this place out - outstanding rooms and outstanding hospitality.
There are more photos than usual in this blog as I could not decide which photos to include so I included a few more than you are all used to.
First a few photos of this AMAZING B&B - as beautiful as the website was, the real thing will blow you away. The photo below is of the front door
This photo is of the house from the front, capturing the gorgeous fountain that plays a pivotal part of the landscaping.
A view of the house right in front of the front gate, with the guest cottage on the right side - it is also rented out
We arrived in Amboise on Wednesday and after dropping off our things, we headed out for a tour of several of the area chateaus. The first one we visited was Cheverny (pictured below)
This is one of the smaller chateaus (even though it is still pretty damn big) and interestingly enough, the current owners still occupy one of the wings of the house - they have a separate entrance but are frequently seen around the house and the grounds by the tourists. This house has been owned by the same family since it was built several hundred years ago which is a rarity as we learned from our tour guide since so many chateaus changed hands as a result of wars or in invasions.
Another interesting thing about this house is that the current owner keeps 100 hounds as hunting dogs, one of which can be seen below. They are all kept a few hundred feet away from the main house where visitors can see them playing.
The next chateau we visited was Chambord. This chateau is the second biggest in France after Versailles. There are over 400 rooms, over 300 windows, and 30+ fireplaces. Francois the first, who built this chateau as a sign of his immense wealth and extravagant taste only spent 29 nights here in total...EVER. After hearing this, it's not hard to see why there was a revolution. I mean wouldn't you revolt if your king built a castle that could house a small village and then never spent any time in it? Talk about a show off.
Well out of 400+ rooms, only 70 have furniture in them and out of those only 17 are open to the public so needless to say there isn't a ton to see inside (I mean let's face it, it IS mostly about the exterior don't you think). One thing that WAS very interesting was the double staircase that was created by Leonardo DaVinci (duh). Chris and I experimented since I, being ever the skeptic, did not believe that this fancy shmancy staircase was the real deal...well I was wrong, it is the real deal. After about 15 minutes of explanation, I think I finally understand how it works (clearly I'm not the biggest chateau in the Loire Valley when it comes to this science stuff). Not surprisingly we were could by our tour guide that this staircase was used primarily to avoid awkward conversations between wives and mistresses.
Here is a photo of a small church on the Chambord grounds that I just thought was nifty
We finished off out first night in the Loire Valley by going to an UNBELIEVABLE restaurant in Amboise called L'Epicerie. There, we sipped on some of the local wine while having a four course meal that blew us away (the highlight was OF COURSE the cheese....oh the cheese...I don't think I will ever forget that cheese...this cheese was like the Prince William and Kate Middleton of cheeses...so yes it was worth all the hoopla : )
The next morning, having missed our second tour (my ONE planning faux pas of the entire trip) we decided to spend the day in Amboise (well we didn't decide as much as we didn't have a choice because we didn't have a car) but luckily there is plenty to see in Amboise so we were never bored.
We started out at Close Luce, the home of Leonardo DaVinci for the last three years of his life (1516-1519). Legend has it that this house was connected to an underground tunnel to the Chateau D'Amboise and DaVinci could see the chateau from his bedroom window which he loved.
The next two photos are just a few of the ones i took in the Garden right after walking out of the main house (unfortunately no photos allowed in the house)
The color of these roses was sickeningly perfect. The most pure pink I think I have ever seen.
There was a lot of ground to cover in DaVinci's "backyard". One photo I have included here is of a densely wooded area in which hung almost transparent versions of some of his greatest works. It really was rather mystifying.
And last but not least a view of the house itself. Not too shabby, eh?
Now jump to the chateau in Amboise. Next up, is the man himself (or his (second) final resting spot). Yes what you are looking at is the final resting place of Leonardo DaVinci. I say his second final resting place because he was actually buried elsewhere on the chateau grounds but was moved after several hundred years. He now resides in a chapel that is located high above the town on Amboise - a great tribute to a great man.
Here is a view of one of the main streets in Amboise from atop the chateau
Here is a view of the back of the castle. This is a pretty massive castle to begin with but can you believe that the current size of the chateau is actually only 1/5 it's original size?!?! Due to several "conflicts", parts of the castle were destroyed over the years leaving only what we see today
Here is the hubs standing along one of the beautiful paths in the garden behind the castle. Notice the perfectly pruned trees and shrubs
A big tree
And here is where it all comes to an end - below are photos of my wonderful husband Chris and myself at our last dinner in France. Notice the delicious glass of wine in Chris' hand - oh how I miss it!
Our honeymoon may be over, but the memories and the fun we have had will undoubtedly live on forever - this really truly was a journey of a lifetime....GO TEAM!!!
oh and by the way Skittle - we lost Beth!!
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