(courtesy of Marla Brose/Albuquerque Journal)

A writer from the Journal contacted me last week saying she had heard about me being at the Boston Marathon last month and then found out that I was diagnosed last year with MS.  She thought my story would make an inspirational Mother’s Day article for the newspaper.  I was honored for this opportunity and was surprised when I saw the article on the front page of the paper.  Here is a link to the story.

Since the bombings in Boston, I have been interviewed by a few different news organizations, including some international media the day after the marathon when I was still in Boston.  I was not close to where the bombs went off (I was in the finisher’s chute a few hundred yards away), nor did I do anything worthy of being interviewed, I just happened to be there, like so many other people that experienced the horror on that day.  Talking about myself and having the focus be on me is definitely out of my comfort zone, but for whatever reason these opportunities have come my way, so I am doing the best I can to embrace them.  I do believe that God can bring good out of a bad situation, and I pray that perhaps something good can come from me talking about being at the Boston Marathon and sharing my story of living with MS.  I’m not sure what that is, so I’ll just have to leave that up to God for now.

Have you been out of your comfort zone at all lately?

Ever been interviewed for something?

Any examples of how God has brought something good out of a bad situation in your life?

Often I get caught up in the day to day hustle of life with a job, husband, dog and all the kids’ activities, and it can feel overwhelming.  This seems to be going on quite a bit lately, so I’m hoping to take this Mother’s Day Weekend to slow down a little and reflect on what is truly important in my life.  God, family, friends.  I know I only have a brief time with my children under the roof of my home (my daughter turns 13 the day after Mother’s Day!), so I need to decide how I want to spend these next few precious years.  I need to remain focused on the job I have been given to raise Godly children.

Unfortunately my mom passed away 14 years ago, which makes Mother’s Day bittersweet for me.  I am sad when I think of all she missed out on by never getting to experience having grandchildren or seeing me become a mother.  This serves as one more reminder in my life to not take a single day for granted.

What plans do you have to celebrate Mother’s Day?

You may recall that I was tempted to run the Tucson Marathon back in December because it’s a great course, my dad lives there, and I wanted to get a 2014 Boston Qualifying time.  However, I was having some minor health issues and was not feeling my best, so I decided not to run it.  I had my doubts going into the Boston race that I could run a qualifying time there.  It’s a difficult course (for me) and I had some bumps in the road with an injury during my training.  I did not hit my qualifying time in Boston for 2014, so I’m still working away to make this happen.

In 3 weeks I will be running the Mountains 2 Beach Marathon in California with my friend Sherri.  We have big dreams of qualifying together for Boston at this race.  Hence, the return of Marathon Mondays to my blog.

3 weeks post marathon and I am feeling really good.  I took the first week after the race very easy to allow my legs some good recovery time.  The challenge of running back to back marathons with only 6 weeks in between is to get enough recovery time, but not too much, because you have to jump back in and maintain your fitness level and then get ready for another taper.  Whew, that’s a lot to think about!  I’m loosely following a 6 week between marathon plan from this book.  This past weekend Sherri and I did a 20 mile run together, and while we were not breaking any speed records, it was good to get the time on my feet and I’m happy that my legs are feeling decent.  My challenge the next few weeks is to get to the marathon without injury, while still getting some worthwhile training runs in.  So far so good!

Have you ever run back to back races?  How did you train for it?

Do you like the “Keep Calm” sayings, or are you tired of seeing them everywhere?

I have never been a part of putting on a race, so I can only imagine how much work goes into everything from marketing to finding the venue to getting signs and shirts made and much more.  I simply cannot believe that Brian and his team were able to pull this off in just 10 days.

At the beginning of the race the crowd parted ways and made a long tunnel for those of us that had run the Boston Marathon to run through to start the race off.  There were 8-10 other people there that had run the marathon.  It was nice to meet some of them and swap stories of their experiences in Boston.  Amy, who I met in Boston and spent the hours before the race with, was also there with her husband.  It was fun to see them back home in Albuquerque after meeting them in Boston.

I ran the race with one of my friends and we had a great time together.  Here we are with our hubbies and Sherri.

There were over 700 runners and people that donated, and so far $30,000 has been raised for Boston.  We are hoping to be able to send $47,000 to Boston to represent New Mexico as the 47th state.  If you would still like to donate please go to www.abq4boston.com.  There are race shirts available for purchase too if you would like one.A huge thank you to Brian Colon, Sherri, Jane (another friend of mine that helped out a TON to make the race happen), all the volunteers, and all the runners and people that donated and came out to support this event.  Way to go New Mexico!

Have there been any events for Boston in your community?

Have you ever helped put on a race?

First and most notably is The One Fund – Boston which has already raised over 20 million dollars.  Click here for a link if you would like to donate.

Next, this wonderful blogger, MissZippy1, posted about a fund set up to help Erika Brannock, a 29 year old preschool teacher, who was in Boston to cheer her mom on in the marathon.  Erika lost her leg and her husband and sister were also injured in the explosions.  By using a free app called RunBSX, if you run a total of 26.2 miles between now and May 17th, the RunBSX people will donate $10 to the Erika Brannock Fund.  I have already started using this app (it is similar to the Nike Running App).  It was simple to download and took me less than a minute to set it up and get running, super easy!

For anyone in Albuquerque, there is a 5K walk/run this weekend to benefit Boston’s First Responders Fund.  The goal of the ABQ 4 Boston 5K is to raise $47,000 to donate to represent the support of New Mexico, the 47th state in our nation.  I will be there with my family and friends to support this great event.

These are just a few of the ways to help that have hit home for me, but there are many other wonderful charities and events that are taking place all over the country (and the world) that you can participate in.  I even heard of a friend of my sister’s who lives in Hungary who ran a race to benefit Boston.  So, find what is meaningful to you and please pitch in and support the victims of this tragedy.

My morning started out with me saying goodbye to my sister in our hotel room (she was there to spectate and cheer me on), and heading out for the short walk to where the buses loaded.  I was fortunate to meet up with a running friend of mine from Albuquerque, Sheilah, and also Amy, from Albuquerque who has a great running blog.

Here we are ready to load the buses in our warm clothes. Amy, Sheilah, and me

We waited for an hour to get on a bus and then the ride was another hour to take us to the starting line in Hopkinton.  It was nice to have the company during those couple of hours to pass the time and so that I didn’t get a chance to get too nervous.  We got dropped off the buses and things went smoothly from there thanks to Sheilah who has run many Bostons before.

She guided us to a less crowded area behind the massive Athlete’s Village and we got quickly into a porta potty line, then walked to drop our gear bags and proceeded to begin the long trek toward the starting line.  It was about a mile walk to get to the corrals at the starting line.  Once the 3 of us got there we wished each other luck and parted ways to get to our different starting corrals.  It was the first time I had been by myself for the past few hours, and I let it really sink in that here I was at THE Boston Marathon.

Here is a picture from my starting corral.  I was in the last corral of the second wave, so there were probably 7,000-8,000 people in front of me waiting to start in this wave.  I couldn’t even see the starting line from my corral and did not hear the gun for the start of our wave.  I simply started walking when the masses began moving and eventually broke into a jog shortly before crossing the starting line.

After we started running I was able to quickly settle into my pace even with being surrounded by so many runners.  I enjoyed every second of the screaming crowds cheering us on our way.  I had such a huge smile on my face that my cheeks hurt.  While the first few miles were downhill, I had read enough about the course to know I needed to hold myself back, which I was doing (or at least I thought I was).  I was running near what I thought my marathon pace would be for the day because I was feeling strong and was consciously pulling myself back because I knew what was to come with the hills later in the race.

My first inkling that something was not going to go great for my race was at mile 5 when I looked at my heart rate and it was sky high.  I don’t usually run to my heart rate, but I often track it after my training runs and know about where I should be for different levels of effort.  I knew this heart rate was too high to sustain for the remaining 21 miles, but I was puzzled because I felt so good, my breathing was really easy, I was not sucking wind like this high heart rate would normally mean for me, so I thought maybe it was a blip with my heart rate monitor.  I decided to continue running based on effort, still holding myself back from going faster, even though I felt like I could.  I just tried to focus on each mile that I was in.  The miles ticked by quicker than any other race I have run.  Before I knew it, 10 miles were done.  The crowds were so supportive and loud cheering us on.  My sister was at the half way point and I saw her, but unfortunately with the mass of runners going by, she never saw me, despite being only 10 feet from her and screaming her name multiple times.  I was definitely bummed and thought about turning around to run back to her for a hug, but at this point my pace was on track for another Boston qualifying time and I thought I’d better keep running.

I began to feel the effects of my high heart rate around mile 16 when we started climbing hills.  I was able to stick with the first 3 hills and hold a decent pace getting up and over them, but by the time the 4th started (Heartbreak Hill), I began to feel light headed and a little dizzy and knew I couldn’t continue on at this pace.  So, I did what I didn’t want to do and walked for a bit starting a little after mile 20.  I even stopped to use the porta potty, which I have never ever done during a race!  Note to spectators: if a runner comes off the race course to use a porta potty please let them go in front of you rather than making them wait in line.

After my 60 second bathroom stop that took 6 minutes with waiting in line, I started on my way again, walking and slowly jogging, working on bringing my heart rate down.  I started feeling better and at that point, realizing my BQ time was out of reach, I decided to just soak in every last moment of the race.  And I’m happy to say that I did just that.  I prayed for friends and family and asked for God’s help in carrying me through the rest of the race.  I smiled the entire last 6 miles while run/walking, soaking in the crowd, the cheers, the kids giving me orange slices.  The spectators made me feel like a rock star.

The last mile finally came and I took the infamous right turn onto Hereford Street, then the left onto Boylston Street and relished those last few hundred yards of the race.  It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.  I finished in 4:04:17 and proceeded to enjoy my time in the finisher’s chute.  I asked a volunteer to take a picture of me and then took a bunch of pictures during my slow stroll through getting water, getting a Mylar blanket, and eventually to receiving my medal.

Just after crossing the finish line.

I wanted to hang out in the finisher’s chute all day, it was such a thrilling feeling of elation and accomplishment after I have dreamed of this race and worked so hard to get here.  However, my sister was waiting to meet up with me and I was excited to reunite with her.  I texted my finishing picture to a bunch of friends and continued through the chute to pick up my gear bag and called my husband to hear his voice.  While I was on the phone with him I heard and felt the first explosion.  Everyone turned around and saw the smoke and we were all confused.  Then the second explosion went off.  My husband told me to get out of there as quickly as I could.  I was nearing the gear bag buses and the volunteer saw my bib number and reached my bag out to me and I continued to head for the exit at the end of the finisher’s chute.  I was able to call my sister to find out where she was and fortunately, she was headed in the same direction I was.  Amongst hundreds of runners and spectators near the end of the chute, God miraculously brought us immediately together, we hugged and proceeded to walk the short distance to our hotel room.

I will forever remember April 15, 2013 for both the joy and the sorrow.

“…these three remain; faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families affected.

“Today is the day You have made, I will rejoice and be glad in it”

Well, today is THE day, I’m off to run the Boston Marathon!  And I will be rejoicing for each of those 26.2 miles.  Thank you God!

Off to run my 6th marathon and 2nd one PMS (Post MS Diagnosis)!

“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”  Hebrews 12:1-2

Just a little crazy to think I will be amongst all these runners!

I thought I’d write down a few goals for the race, just some things that have been running through my head, here they are:

“A” Goal – HAVE FUN!  Soak in the experience, everything from the bus ride to the starting line, to waiting for hours in the Athlete’s Village, to each of the 26.2 miles.

“B” Goal – Run a smart race.  I have heard that many runners start out too fast on this course since the first few miles are downhill.  While that sounds like a great opportunity to “bank” some time for later in the race, it is also a great way to increase your chances of bonking when the hills hit from miles 16-21.  My plan is to start out slowly, even if it feels like I am holding myself back.  I have no idea what to expect with the hills late in the race, so I want to be conservative.

Do I have a goal time in mind?  Sort of.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t care what my time will be.  Sure the idea of taking the race as my “victory lap” for qualifying is tempting.  And with not having an ideal training cycle with the calf injury setback, maybe I should take the pressure off and just get through the 26.2 miles without paying attention to pace.  BUT…I would love to actually RACE the best marathon in the world.  I would be beyond ecstatic if I was able to run a Boston Qualifying time of under 3:45.  At this point, I’m going to take each mile as it comes on Monday and see what happens.

You can watch the race live online here.  You can track runners online here, my bib number is 17771.

Follow me @MilesAndTrials on Twitter for pictures and updates.  Miles and Trials also has a new Facebook page where I’ll be posting throughout the weekend.  If you have a second, please go “Like” me here.

I feel very blessed to be getting to run this marathon that I worked to qualify for for years.  Ultimately whatever God has in store for me on Monday, in my heart I have already “won”.  Thank you to everyone who has uplifted and encouraged me along this journey, you have all been a part of getting me to my dream race.