Recommitment!

January 31st was a very important milestone.  Yesterday was Recommitment. By 5pm, we had to have our official Boston Athletic Association registration for the Boston Marathon into Jillian, the LLS Campaign Coordinator, as well as all of our recommitment paperwork which formally confirmed that we want to continue to train with and raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  I was really excited about filling the form out for some reason.  Now my name will be official not only with LLS but with the B.A.A.  I may not be a qualified runner but I think it's still an accomplishment just to be on their official list. 

The official B.A.A. entry form

All filled out with my signed recommitment form!

We also had to reach our fundraising minimum.  As of the deadline I had...drumroll please...$2,916 in my Paycor account!  This excludes the $315 raised from my bowling tournament fundraiser which has not hit my online account yet so I'm actually just $19 shy of my minimum!  Who's going to put me over the top?  Thank you to everyone who has donated so far.  I've really appreciated the support and it has made getting out there in the snow and ice much easier every week.

Now a quick training update.  Saturday was our first half marathon run.  I ran the Wicked Half Marathon up in Salem, MA in late September so this wasn't quite my longest run but I was especially looking forward to it none the less.  I felt like I didn't do my best at the Wicked Half.  It was my first real long distance race so I knew I'd be happy just with crossing the finish line and clocking a time.  Still, being the competitive person that I am I really wanted to come in in under 2:30.  My time was 2:33:57.  Moving apartments at the beginning of September and starting a new job cut into my training towards the end and the high that day was 86 degrees.  Excuses, excuses I know.  Having properly trained this time around I was really excited to see improvement.  My time was 2:07:43!  That's a 26 minute improvement and a 10:06 min/mile pace!  I was blown away!  I'm right where I want to be for my stretch goal of coming in under 4:30.

To cap it all off I took my first ice bath to help speed my muscle recovery.  I really thought these were an exaggeration in sports movies.  Apparently not.  I filled the bathtub with cold water and a tray of ice cubes.  Let's just say that my roommate Elise had to come check on me after the string of curses that exited my mouth after I put my first foot in the water.  She was kind enough to snap this pic of me cringing in pain as I sat my whole body down.  I put my iPod on to try to forget about the cold for the 10 minutes I was in there and fittingly the first song that came on was "F**k You" by Cee Lo Green.  I just can't wait to do this again next week!

Filling up my first ice bath

Oh the pain