Lansdowne Fundraiser

Finally the main event.  My Bar Night at the Lansdowne Pub.  I was particularly excited about this fundraiser for a number of reasons.  First of all, this was my main fundraising event that I was hoping would put me over my minimum.  Second, I love the Lansdowne.  It's one of my favorite bars in Boston.  It's located right behind the Fenway Park center field bleachers on Lansdowne Street so you really can't get much more quintessentially Boston than that.  Also, they always have great live (mainly cover) bands and an energetic fun crowd.  Finally, I got a really great response to the fundraiser and knew many of my favorite people would be there from a variety of groups of friends--everyone from college friends, sorority sisters, coworkers, TNT runners, and even broomball teammates.

Sara, AP, Erin, Elise, and Zach

To entice my guests I worked out a deal with the Lansdowne to get not only the space but also some free finger food.  On top of that I decided to hold a raffle.  Now if you remember my story from my bowling tournament, finding raffle prizes can prove a bit tricky.  I found that a lot of places say they are willing to donate (and I think they are) but they are horrible about following up which required a lot of time and effort on the fundraiser's part.  I started early this time and with a week to go before the fundraiser I was still short on prizes.  I contacted my mentor, Aimee and she came through.  Her friend Jay offered to donate one of his beautiful photographs at cost (check them out at Jaypisano.com), Aimee herself donated candy from Necco where she works for the candy basket on the table above, and she offered to go around to a few restaurants in the South End with me which resulted in a gift certificate to Picco. In end end I lucked out by winning Revolution tickets at my teammate Travis's fundraiser the weekend before and made a couple of successful calls to the places where I white water rafted and skydived the summer before.

My table after the raffle

Here are all of the prizes I ended up rounding up:

• Maine White Water Rafting trip for 2 from U.S. Rafting
• 4 tickets to the BU v Providence Hockey Game on Feb 18th
• 2 for 1 Tandem Skydiving at Skydive Pepperell in Pepperell, MA
• Gift Certificate to Modern Pastry in the North End
• Red Sox Jacket (care of my parents)
• 4 box seats to the New England Revolution home opener at Gillette and 4 Tickets to 5 Wits at Patriot Place
• Gift Certificate to Legal Seafood (care of my former roommate Sara)
• Gift Certificate to Picco Restaurant in the South End
• Original Framed Photograph from Jay Pisano (check out all his work at www.jaypisano.com)
• A Candy basket from Necco (makers of Clark Bars, Sky Bars, and Sweethearts)

The fundraiser is starting to get crazy

 After finally locking down the prizes and then running around like crazy the few hours before picking up the photo from Jay and making the poster to display the prizes, I was finally all set.  The event went off without a hitch (aside from some accusations that I didn't mix up the raffle tickets enough) and everyone had a great time.  I raised $550 which put me right around my fundraising minimum and although I may have broken my cell phone and left my credit card at the bar, I still say the night was a success!  Check out all the pictures in the "Photo" tab.

My roommate Elise and a rare showered pic of me

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

Breaking into the Double Digits and Other Updates

I've been very bad at blogging lately.  Now that the year-end at work is coming to a close hopefully I'll have more time to post regularly.  I figured I'd give a brief update of where I stand on the training and fundraising front.

Luckily, on the training front I can update you pretty easily because all our training has had a general theme...snow (with some sub-freezing temps thrown in there just for fun).  I kept up with my long runs over break and our first training run back on January 8th was supposed to be not only our first double digit run but also our first run out towards Newton and the infamous Newton Hills.  Due to the snow that was coming down on us that day, we were treated to a shorter 6 mile run towards Hopkinton and an intense cross-training session to make up for the shorter mileage.  I'll get into cross-training in another post but let's just say I went to the grocery store the next day and had to strategize how to get a can of beans off the bottom shelf without embarrassing myself next to an elderly woman.

The following Saturday we finally attacked an 11 miler and the Newton Hills.  I felt great through the hills.  I took my coach Sarad's advice and hunched over slightly up the hills, not straightening up until I was through the crest of the hill, and only looked a few feet ahead of me and not at the huge incline I still had to defeat.  I didn't tighten up until around mile 8 after the third water stop.  The killer though was a hill some of the girls in years past had nicknamed "Mildred" which, like Heart Break Hill, comes right near the end of the run, is long and steep, and on this particular morning was covered in snow and slush.  I managed to jog the entire way up but I honestly probably could have walked it faster.  By the end of the run my legs hurt like they never had before and it took me a full 30 minutes to stretch them out before I felt like I could drive home.

Finally this past Saturday we went towards Hopkinton again for a 12 mile run.  It was bitterly cold at around 15 degrees and with the wind it felt even colder.  Our other coach, Kelly, sent around an email before practice reminding us to dress appropriately.

"10 to 20 degrees: 2 tops, 2 bottoms. A jacket over your base layer and wind pants over the tights."

I had on three tops, two bottoms, and a scarf.  With all the layers I had on I felt like I had suddenly gained 10 pounds and by the end of the run I really just wanted to pull off and ditch my extra pair of pants and scarf (but didn't because I'm cheap and I paid good money for them).  My body temperature must run hot because I clearly didn't need to bundle up so much.  As it's been continuously  snowing in New England, the sidewalks were not well plowed so we also had to battle cars on Rt 135 pretty much the entire run as we made our way into Natick for the first time.  My teammate Manny said that a PeterPan bus driver actually looked him straight in the eye and tried to run him off the road.  In my year and a half driving in Massachusetts with Mass drivers, I don't doubt it.  Aside from the temperature and traffic issues the run went very well and I finished in about the same time I finished the 11 miler and not nearly as sore and tired.  I estimate my pace was about 10:30 min/mile which is great for a long run and right where I want to be.

So what's on the agenda for this week?  Recommitment is on January 31st so we've all been working to get in the last of our donations to reach our fundraising minimum.  As of tonight I have $2,405 in donations!  (This includes $300 from my bowling tournament that hasn't hit the account yet) which is 74% of the way to my goal!  Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far! If you'd still like to donate it's not too late!  Here's the website: http://pages.teamintraining.org/ma/boston11/klauro 

This week I've also been preparing for my main fundraiser!  I'm having a bar night at the Lansdowne Pub on Saturday just in time for recommitment.  I've been spending the week gathering donations for the raffle.  Thanks to the generosity of some local businesses I've got some great prizes and it finally looks like I'm all set!  Stay tuned for all the pictures from the event on Sunday!

Ok I think I've bored you enough with this "brief" update that became not so brief.  I promise to update you all on my training more frequently in the future!

TNT Bowling Tournament

Last Thursday I hosted my first fundraising event and got a taste of the challenges of event planning.  I coordinated a bowling tournament at Lucky Strike in Jillian's which is located right behind Fenway Park's center field bleachers.

The initial set-up of the event was a breeze.  I called Jillian's up and they quickly agreed to let me use 4 lanes for 2 hours and threw in a plate of chips and salsa for the group.  The only catch was that they only times they donated lanes were Monday-Thursday from 6-8pm.  Since many of my friends work outside of the city and/or work long hours some nights, it can be difficult to get down to Fenway by 6pm and therefore it was difficult to get people to commit to coming in advance.

My second challenge was figuring out and obtaining a prize.  I contacted a few restaurants and cafes around Boston to ask if they would donate a gift certificate.  Most seemed vaguely interested but needed a letter from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society officially endorsing me as their fundraiser...which I didn't have.  Because of the holidays I was getting crunched for time so I quickly emailed Jillian at the Massachusetts TNT HQ and voila!  I had the letter in about 24 hours.  The Improv Asylum in the North End came through and donated six tickets.

Finally I decided I wanted to make an inexpensive but fun trophy.  I really impressed myself with my craftiness on this one.  Take a look at the pictures of the trophies below and the pics from the event itself.  We ended up having 13 people including myself participate in the event instead of the 20 I was hoping for.  Even so, we had a great group come out and everyone had a good time.  My co-worker Jess, her boyfriend Chris, and her roommate Sary ended up winning by 5 pins but I bowled the highest score in a game.  I think my 150 is a PR!  Hopefully, I can achieve a few more running PRs in the coming months!

The Trophies!

The Champions:  Sary,  Chris, & Jess

See the photo page for all the pics!

The Real Challenge: Fundraising

As I mentioned before, the Boston Athletic Association sets a fundraising minimum for charity runners because the race is so popular. While this is great for the charities as it ensures that they will raise a certain amount based on the total spots the BAA allocates to them, it can be overwhelming for the actual participants. This year the fundraising minimum was set at $3,250.

Initially I wasn't really too worried about raising this much money. The final deadline is May 18th, 2011, a full month after the marathon and five months from now. That's $650 per month or about $150 per week. Piece of cake! Then I reread my signed agreement...

January 31, 2011 at 5pm marks the recommitment deadline. Up until this point I can donate what I've raised for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and still walk away from the marathon and my fundraising minimum. After this date, I supply the balance of the minimum and am reimbursed as I raise the money. Now don't get me wrong, I'm happy to donate my time and money to LLS, BUT I'm not sure my credit card can quite afford one large $3000+ hit. So that leaves me with really focusing on fundraising. Having never raised this amount of money in my life I was a little worried. My parents raised me in the traditional "we don't talk about money let alone ask for it" way so it's a bit of a challenge for me to solicit donations, even if it is for a good cause.

Despite my reservations, I've come up with a few different fundraising event ideas and I'm sure many of you have already received emails from me. I'm happy to announce that I have blasted through my first goal of $500 in just my first week. To-date I've raised $840 which is 26% of the way to my goal!

Thank you so much to all of you who have contributed thus far. I'm not really one to get emotional or sappy but I  have been really inspired and motivated by your words of encouragement and even more so by your stories of loved ones who have battled leukemia or lymphoma.  In fact, to show my gratitude, if you've donated to me and have someone close who has battled one of the blood cancers, I'd like to run in honor of them by writing their name on the TNT singlet I'll be wearing on race day.  If you'd like to donate, here's the link to my TNT website: Team In Training: Kate Lauro

Finally, this is my official announcement of my first fundraising event.  I will be hosting a Bowling Tournament at Jillian's (aka Lucky Strike) on January 6, 2011 from 6-8pm.  We will have four teams of five and the donation to enter a team is $75 ($15pp).  There will be a two game guarantee and a prize TBD for the winning team.  The Facebook event will follow shortly but you can let me know now if you would already like to reserve a spot!

Ok, I promise that's enough plugs for now...back to training!