Ok, here's the full story from Hyannis, now that I am warm, fed, and well-rested...

Hyannis is nothing if not a little bit of a shitshow. Maybe that's why we love it so much...it kind of suits us.

It was cold, rainy, and dreary in Hyannis for our marathon relay, but that didn't dampen the fun! Katie and I kicked off our relay team together; her plan was to get in a 20 mile training run, while my plan was to bust out a hard half marathon. We both succeeded! Katie, being the iron woman that she is, paced me for the first seven miles and I ended up with a new half marathon PR--1:38. It's more than a minute faster than my previous PR, though still not quite as fast as I'd hoped. I really do need to learn how to pace myself better and run negative splits....but back to the interesting stuff...

Coming through the half marathon point, we handed off to Mo, who ran a courageous 7.3 miles in the rain even though she was sick. As she made it to Craigville Beach for the final handoff to Kiirsten, the poor thing couldn't stop shivering! What a brave roommate she is!

Even with a fever and nausea (and 12 pounds of layers), Mo is still smiling.

Kiirsten took over the baton for the final anchor leg, and turned in quite a stellar performance! She decided NOT to go for a training run the night before the race this year, and we all thanked her for that. By the time her leg was up, she had to battle the worst of the rain and wind. But she came running through the finish line with a smile. It was her best run ever, and she finished her leg way before we even thought to look for her!

So Kiirsten, when will you start running marathons with us?

All in all it was a GREAT weekend...despite the snow/rain, despite my poorly executed splits, despite Mo being sick, despite Kiirsten's driving...simply GREAT. More fun than riding a bike, actually ;)

Team Chico pee before the race (yes, we really are dorky enough to all wear our race shirts)

ugh.

This is what you look like when you don't run a smart race--thanks to Kiirsten for the photographic evidence :)

team chico-pee

It has arrived! The weekend we all (well, my roommates and I) have been waiting for.....HYANNIS '09! This year's iteration of Team Chico-pee* in the Hyannis Marathon Relay will consist of me, Katie, Mo, and Kiirsten. We haven't quite figured out the order of our handoffs yet, as Mo and I both want to run 13.1 miles, Katie might do 20, and Kiirsten is going to be our anchor leg. That clearly adds up to more than 26.2 miles. But we'll figure it out...let's be honest, probably at the last second as we approach the starting line.

At Hyannis 2008, as "Team KEEK"

This weekend is less about the running, and more about the roommate bonding. We discovered last year that the pre-race pasta dinner, the mini-road trip, Kiirsten's inability to navigate/drive/park as a licensed driver should be able to, and the post-race happy hour can be more fun than the race itself! We went down to Hyannis last year as four roommates doing our own little thing...and came back from Hyannis with some new friends, new boyfriends, and good memories :) This year will hopefully be more of the same--but maybe with a new half-marathon PR if all goes well.

* "Team Chico-pee" has nothing to do with the town in western Mass, but is rather a reference to our back porch and our upstairs neighbor, a crappy little pug named "chico". Use your imagination.

team chico-pee

This has been a fantastic weekend so far....my roommates Katie, Kiirsten, and I trekked down to New Haven last night to visit our old roommate, Mo! After some wine and girl talk last night, we got up for our morning ritual of coffee and watching The Office, then headed out for a run around East Rock and the Yale campus. It was a beautiful day, I was with some of my favorite running buddies ever, and it was all around just awesome.

me, Mo, Katie, and Kiirsten after our run in New Haven

We ran together today in preparation for the Hyannis Marathon Relay in two weekends; last year we ran as Team KEEK, and this year we'll be running as Team Chico-pee. (The name comes from our upstairs neighbors who let their little pug, Chico, pee all over their back porch. Which means that it drips riiiight down onto our porch. ew.)

For those of you unfamiliar with a marathon relay, it is basically the 26.2 miles divided up between 4 relay legs: Katie and I will run the first 13 miles, then hand off to Mo for the next 7.3 miles, who will hand off to Kiirsten for the last 5.8 miles. We're not out to win any medals...just to enjoy the pasta dinner the night before, cheer on the father-son team of Rick and Dick Hoyt, and have some more roommate bonding time :)

Last year's Hyannis adventure consisted of some interesting driving by Kiirsten, some new male friends, a very strange continental breakfast in which we were told our eggs WILL explode, and a race director who made us keep getting closer to the porta potties (as if that would help start the race on time). This year's adventure has a lot to live up to.

mind over matter

Last night was week #2 of track....ugh, track. I would rather run 16 or 18 miles than do a track workout, and I don't even pretend to keep this hatred a secret! Last night's workout was 600 meter repeats--12 of them. Because I am hoping to run the marathon in 8:20 per mile, that meant about 2:25 per 600 meters.

At the beginning of the workout, that just seemed so, well, insurmountable! That's essentially 4.5 miles of hard running, and that doesn't even include the brief "rest" (ie, easy running) in between repeats. As we worked our way though the 600s, they got harder and harder, and my legs got heavier. And by the middle of the last set, I pretty much wanted to give up.

BUT (and as I tell my students, watch out for this BIG BUT coming through the door), track is necessary if I really want to run a qualifying time for next year's Boston Marathon. So luckily for me, there are good people that run track on Tuesdays. I would not have made it through last night's workout without Katie and Aimee. I would have run a lot slower if they hadn't been there both pushing me from behind, pulling me from up front, and making me lead every few repeats! Good people running together seems to be the theme of DFMC. And I love that with track, crossroads, and long weekend runs, I get to see the same good people up to three times a week!

Up next on the agenda is a 'team' run with Katie, Kiirsten, and Mo down in New Haven this weekend--in preparation for our Hyannis Marathon Relay in a few weeks. Then Sunday is group run day (17-18 miles) and then haircuts on Newbury Street and drinks with some of the DFMC girls!