347 miles down, 26.2 to go...

Tonight was our team pasta party, and earlier today I ran my last 2 miles until the marathon.  I felt pretty good today, but the news if you haven't heard is that Monday's weather is supposed to be in the mid to upper 80s.  So that's not good.  Obviously we have to revise our pace plan, since there's no way we can run a fast pace in that heat.  Stay tuned for updates!

Tomorrow is the BAA 5k, which Sam, Keith, Jenn, and Jenn's mom are running.  I'm excited to have a day of being a fan before my day of being an athlete! 

$110 left to go! And 5 days till the marathon!

By this time 5 days from now, I'll be done with the marathon!  I can't believe it.  And I have only $110 left to raise on my fundraising goal.  Thanks so much to all of my donors so far, you guys are fantastic!  I'd like to give an updated shout-out to my most recent donors - thanks to Allie, Rachael W, Megan B, Jenny M, Laura R, Caroline M, Jenna, Holly, Masha, Matt D, Chuck and Cherry, David R, Doug, and Grandmom (again!)!  I can't believe how much support I've gotten from so many wonderful people.  I'm really honored!

If you want to join these awesome legions, you can donate here if you haven't already: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal  Soon I'll be able to stop posting about this!  My mom will be so pleased.

Tomorrow I'm scheduled to run 5 miles, then we're off on Friday, then 2 miles on Saturday, off on Sunday, and then the marathon is on Monday!  Yikes!  I've run 340 miles so far in training.  I'm definitely going to need to get new shoes after this, but for obvious reasons I don't want to change my shoes right before the marathon.  And hey, I'll probably stick with these ones for another week so I can do the triathlon in them too.  And then I think we should get them bronzed.  Just kidding.

In other exciting news, tomorrow I get to meet the first woman ever to run the Boston Marathon.  Her name is Roberta (Bobbi) Gibbs, and she ran disguised as a man in 1966, before women were permitted to run the marathon.  I'm so inspired by her, and I can't wait to meet her!

Glass mosaics has continued to be fun.  I've just finished 2 more pieces I was working on, and I have to decide what I'm going to do next.  I have a few pieces of glass that I really like that I want to use, but I haven't decided what to use them for.  If you have any ideas, leave them in the comments!  The piece of glass that I'm most excited about is orange and wavy and clear and looks sort of like fire, maybe like a dragon would breathe out.  I was thinking of making a dragon, but then the instructor told me that a lot of people make dragons, which made me less interested in making one.  So sue me, I want to be original.  Oh well.  I also have some gorgeous blue pieces, some pretty greens, and one light golden orange.

Enough for tonight, I have to start banking sleep for the marathon!

It's a beautiful day for a run

The weather is beautiful today, around 60 degrees and sunny.  And not too windy, for a change.  I would love if the weather on Marathon Day is like this.  Not too hot, not too cold.  And I definitely don't want any wind unless it's a tailwind the whole way!

I'm going to be running 3 miles today.  We're in serious taper mode now.  It sort of seems like my fundraising is also in taper mode.  I've got less than $400 to go for my goal of $4000, and fundraising ends on this Friday, which is April 6.  If you can help, even a little, I'll really appreciate it!  Here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal 

At this point, I've run 319 miles in preparation for the marathon.  We only have 28 miles left of training before the marathon!  Which means 54.2 miles till the end of this adventure.  I'm starting to think about whether I'd like to do this again, but I think I won't really be able to answer that question until after the marathon.

Glass mosaics has continued to be extremely fun.  I've made almost 6 pieces since I've started.  I'm enjoying trying different things.  I'll put some pictures up, and here's the first one.  No one will be surprised at what I made, I'm guessing.  This is the 2nd thing I made:

In other random news, here is Sam measuring some cheese:

 

You'll have to ask him about this if you want to know why he was measuring cheese.

And here's the puzzle that I finished a while ago.  Jenn and Fiona worked on it also, and it was on our table for a long time.  Isn't it pretty?

 

So that's it for today.  And I'm finally full-time at work!

Happy April! 15 days till the marathon!

I'm starting to get very excited because 2 weeks from tomorrow is the Boston Marathon!  I got a really cool team jersey and long sleeve shirt yesterday at our team run.  Depending on the weather, I'll wear either the jersey or the jersey and the long sleeve shirt for the marathon.  Either way, I will look so awesome!  And Alan, Fiona, and I all went to Marathon Sports yesterday and got our official Boston Marathon jackets.  We are so cool!  Luckily for Alan, I knew and was able to tell him that you aren't allowed to wear the jacket until you finish the marathon.  He didn't believe me, but the cashier was able to back me up.  I'm really excited to wear it!  Here's a picture of the women's version of the jacket:

I was trying to put up a picture of us from our team run on Saturday, but it sort of broke the internet, so I guess you'll just have to imagine me, Alan, and our teammate Chris looking sweaty and reflective after running 12 miles in the rain.

And perhaps most importantly, my fundraising deadline is coming up on Friday!  I've raised over $3400 at this point, but I've still got a ways to go to my goal of raising $4000.  If you can help me reach it, I'd really appreciate it!  Any amount helps!  Here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal

Happy April!