Mrs. H. Runs a Marathon

What a weekend! Initially I was a little stressed out by the amount of visitors we had coming into town but it ended up being really great. My sister went with me to the marathon expo at the Philly Convention Center on Friday, which is where the nerves set in.

On Friday night we went to Sampan to carbo load with our friend Will, who was in town for a wedding. I didn't end up at the club with the rest of the crew, the best decision ever, but it was still a very fun night!

The infamous "Willfie"

On Saturday we had more friends come into town for lunch at Sardine Bar, where I continued to carbo load. It was a fun little day with friends but I was distracted by race nerves and the day  ahead. On Saturday afternoon my mom came into town with homemade pot pie for the final meal before the race. 

After a big dinner we watched the movie "Run, Fat Boy Run," for a little marathon motivation and were in bed before 10pm. I was very thankful to have spent the weekend with great friends and family and couldn't wait to get this run over with!

We were up early Sunday morning to eat our English Muffins with peanut butter and stretch out for the long day of running ahead. We jammed out to Chris Brown and got pumped up for the run. It was finally go time.

Andrew took me on the motorcycle to the starting line and I met up with the Clif Bar 4:00 pace group, led by a guy named Jo. My strategy was to stay with Jo no matter what and hit that 4:00 marathon time, a 9:09 pace for the 26.2 miles. Luckily, I had a full cheer squad throughout the course, which was amazing.

I won't go through the details of the day but I felt really bad at 16, painfully made my way through Manayunk and realized I could hit my time at mile 20 if I just kept moving. With less than a mile to go, Jo the pacer told me walking wasn't an option and I would finish at 3:59 if I just kept moving. I saw all my friends and family on the road into the finish line and I hobbled as fast as I could to finish at 3:59:14. I had hit my goal and it felt amazing.

500 feet from the finish line

Dan crushed the marathon at 2:53 and a Boston qualifying spot!

After the marathon we headed home for a celebratory brunch at our house. I was beyond happy and able to ignore the pain in my legs to enjoy the time celebrating! My stomach was weird from all the Gu I ate throughout the race but Andrew, Dan and I ended our marathon day with the best way to celebrate, a meal at McDonald's.

Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes throughout the marathon! It felt amazing to train for the marathon and reach my goals, so I appreciate all the support! Next marathon - Chicago 2015 :)

Marathon Nervezzz

Next week is the marathon so we spent the weekend at home relaxing. We decided to finally use one of our wedding presents, a gift card to The Barnes Foundation. Before going, we were told to watch the documentary, "The Art of the Steal," which covers how the museum came to be in Philadelphia.

Despite the documentary's stance against the Foundation, I thought the museum was very well done. The works of art are the personal collection of Albert Barnes and it includes 181 by Renoir, 69 by Cezanne, and 59 by Matisse (along with a ridiculous amount of really important pieces). We spent over three hours listening to the free audio tour and viewing the collection. If you haven't already, be sure to check out The Barnes Foundation (and watch the documentary first to understand the story behind it).

It was the perfect weekend of relaxation and as I get ready for the week ahead, I can't help but be excited and nervous for the marathon next Sunday. Andrew keeps telling me that I need to "call my shot" and go for it, so here it is - my goal for Philly is 4:00 . This is my fifth marathon and the first time I have been uninjured and trained, so this marathon means a lot to me.

In May 2011 Andrew and I decided to run our first marathon, Big Sur. We were young and still in pretty good shape from college but had no idea what we were getting into. I had experienced terrible runner's knee problems and barely trained so that first marathon hurt a lot but, after running a 4:30 marathon, I was hooked.

The Big Sur Run Course

First time marathoner

I don't know how I did it, but I convinced my mom to run the Marine Corps marathon with me that October. Although she got hurt after training for only a month, my mom decided she still wanted to run the marathon. It was a week after Andrew and I got engaged and we were so excited so we drove down to D.C. together to give it a shot. My mom and I ran a 5:10 marathon together, a really great experience for us both. If you ever have an opportunity to run a marathon with a parent, do it.

Excited to be engaged :)

Still hooked, I convinced my best friend from Cleveland, Katherine, to run Cleveland marathon with me in May 2012. We drove out to Cleveland on Friday, ran the marathon on Sunday, and drove home immediately after running. I ran with Katherine the entire verrry hot 26.2 miles, and we finished in 4:36. 

I can't find my Cleveland pictures :(

My last marathon was the San Francisco marathon in June 2013. Unfortunately, I had bursitis in my knee that March after the NYC half marathon and didn't run from March to June. We went out to San Francisco to enjoy a fun trip and I had no intention of running. Not sure what made me do it, but I decided to try running and ran a very painful 4:44 marathon.

Morning of San Fran marathon

So here we are one week from Philly marathon. I have been training for 4 months, I've run 525 miles and my knees only hurt a little bit after long runs :) I signed up for the marathon while drunk at a bachelorette party and my year would have been so much different if I had not. Every Thursday I get home and run 5-7 miles with Andrew and Sundays have been spent on long runs and recovering. I cannot wait to get out there next week and run the marathon for myself to see what I can do! If you are in Philly, stop by our house for brunch!

"We just signed up for a marathon...?"

Thank you to everyone that has been a part of my running career over the past few years. I am fortunate to have really great friends and family who have signed up for all these silly races with me and helped me become a better runner.

Baltimore Marathon Relay - October 2011

Virginia Beach Half - March 2012

Runner's World Half - October 2012

NYC Half Marathon - March 2013

Philly Half Marathon - September 2013

Philly Half - September 2014

A Visit with my Girls

Although my Aunt Susan lives in Chicago and we don't see her as often as we would like, she, my mom, sister and I have always been very close. When I got the phone call on Wednesday night that Aunt Susan quit her job, was starting a new job in LA (!!!!) on Monday, and needed a night in Philly with her girls, I couldn't be more excited. We planned an afternoon at the Philadelphia Craft Show to visit a friend and then a night of wine and dinner in our new kitchen.

My girls checkin out the crafts

My mom's very talented friend, Wendy Stevens, was participating in the show so it was great to see her and her beautiful collection of purses. Wendy is not only talented but a friend and mentor to my mom, so we loved seeing her in her element at the show.

If you are in need for a one of a kind Christmas present, make sure to check out Wendy's website. Not only are the purses are metal and absolutely stunning, but Wendy hand makes each of the purses. She really is an inspiration for my mom, sister, and I as we begin brainstorming how to jump start my mom's dog collar business again!

My favorite - it's leopard print!

The craft show was inspiration for the revamp of my mom's dog collar business, Collier Leeds. She started the company in 2008 and made really beautiful leather dog collars but the economy was terrible and it was the wrong product at the wrong time. Now that things are getting better, we are looking forward to launching the business again. Right now we are full of ideas and just need to get them on paper. More to come but here a preview of my  old favorites:

After the craft show we headed home for an early night of wine and fresh cheese from the Reading Terminal Market. After many glasses of of wine (and two pounds of cheese), we finally reinforced my aunt of how cool it is that she is moving to LA and made plans to visit! 

A night with some of my favorite people was exactly what I needed after a frustrating week at work. It was also so weird that we spent the night hanging out in MY (our) kitchen - I feel so grown up!

On Saturday morning we woke up early to head to the Italian Market to buy fresh fruits and veggies. We are really trying to continue eating healthy which, surprise!, is much more expensive than buying junk food. Since the Italian Market is just down the street, we wanted to check out prices - they are much cheaper!

On the way home we stopped at a small organic cafe, Down Dog Healing, I have always wanted to try. It definitely exceeded my expectations and the coffee was yummy!

Also on the way home we checked out the houses going up behind our house. A few months ago these lots were filled with rubble and scary, abandoned homes and today they are being prepared to sell for over $500k. Great news for our home value (we hope)!

On Saturday night we visited friends in Telford for a housewarming party. I was too busy catching up with friends and took no pictures, but I did receive one this week - me holding our friend's sweet baby! She loved my fur vest and fell asleep with her face buried in my chest. I'm a natural... :)

My last big weekend update was my very first fall while running. Luckily, I wasn't too hurt (saved my Lulu, not my pride) but it definitely shook me up! Only two more weeks until the marathon so I have to avoid any other injuries!

Ouch!