Marie

How I’m Spending My Summer Vacation

Published on June 18, 2012 by Marie2 Comments

That’s right.

In 8 days, I will be on a plane headed for one of my favorite places in the entire world: London, England.

But before we talk about why, let’s back up to a little over a year ago.

When I was looking at graduate schools, BU was at the top of my (very short) list. After bombing my GREs and writing what I thought were less-than-stellar essays, I sent my applications away and hoped for the best. The day my acceptance letter from BU came, I screamed so loud I almost sent my then-pregnant friend Miriah into early labor… I was just that excited.

When I went to BU’s accepted student’s day, one of the professors told us about an opportunity to study abroad in London covering the 2012 Summer Olympics. After already falling in love with the school, the possibility of spending a summer in one of my favorite cities sealed the deal. In October, I applied for the program, found out I got in and happily sent in my $500 deposit without a second thought.

London Olympics — Do we look happy? Of course we do.. we’re going to the Olympics!

Fast forward 6 months….

Going through the break-up with Stephen made London a distant nightmare. No, I don’t want to spend 6 weeks in England, I want to stay here and fix my relationship and rebuild my life. I came mere inches from dropping out of the program, only sticking with it due to the fact that giving it up might be the stupidest thing I’d ever do. Reject an opportunity like this to be a miserable wreck all summer long? Take a minute and rethink that decision…

The program, appropriately titled “Covering the London Olympics”, consists of 6 weeks in England – 3 weeks dedicated to a special topics class Monday through Wednesday and then 3 weeks of full-time internships with a local media outlet. I was assigned boston.com and could not be happier. With a group of 3 other girls, we will be producing our own website linked to boston.com and I will provide news packages and video content from on-site in London. Not too bad right?

Why I’m excited… in list form:

– London is one of my favorite cities in the world. I’ve been twice and if I could live in any other country, England soars to the top of the list. Italy is a close second.

– I’m spending the first week there with my family. My dad’s itinerary already includes places like Bath, Stonehenge, Windsor and Oxford. My sister wants to do a pub crawl with my parents. It’s going to be an interesting week.

– Harrod’s. The most amazing department store in the world. I don’t even know if calling it a “department store” is really a fair way to describe it since it takes up an entire city block, including a basement level, and takes an entire day to get through. The wine cellar alone makes me want to move in.

– I plan on traveling to other places while in Europe. The top two locations? Paris and Rome. I’ve been to Paris but the last time I was there, I was 9. I have this not-so-secret ambition to shoot a stand up in the grassy area in front of the Eiffel Tower. I’ve never been to Italy but it’s where my family is from. I plan on tossing a coin into the Trevi Fountain and wishing for the one thing I want more than anything else in this world. Sorry… can’t tell!

And in true Marie fashion, there are also reasons why I’m nervous…

– This will be the longest I’ve ever been away from home for an extended period of time. Don’t get me wrong – I’m a big girl and I can take care of myself but I have a feeling that a bout or two of homesickness will hit me at some point. I’ve always been very much attached to my family and friends so leaving for 7ish weeks will be tough.

– I’m scared I won’t be able to work out. This is probably a stupid reason to be nervous since I’ll probably just suck it up and register for the gym while I’m there and run around the city, but what about dance?! Hope my roommates don’t mind some quality stretching and impromtu dance parties in our room…

– My personal life is still a little on the messy side. It’s not exactly ideal to peace out of the country while I feel this way but maybe the time away really will help…? Let’s just leave it at that.

– $$. London is expensive, I want to travel and my funds are tight. I guess I can sacrifice eating for souvenirs. Hope my aunt doesn’t mind me bringing my laundry to her place… to do one load there costs almost 30 bucks. I kid you not.

I think that’ll do for now.

So while I’m in London, my iPhone will be disabled other than it’s camera function (SAD!!!!) I will have internet and be updating the blog, hopefully more regularly than I have been lately. I promise to take a million pictures and post them while I’m away as well as tweets and links to my work. I love e-mails and Tweets and Facebook posts so don’t hesistate to send me any!

Bye bye USA… Cheers!

Marblehead Beach-to-Beach 5K Recap: One Year Later

Published on May 21, 2012 by Marie1 Comment

If you asked me exactly 1 year ago where I think I’d be today, some of my answers probably would’ve included: “Hopefully engaged,” “hopelessly in love with the same guy I am now” and “planning my wedding.”

Silly 22-year-old me.

A year ago, I thought my life was perfect. I was exactly where I wanted to be, with exactly who I wanted to be with, and I thought I was done changing, done growing. My life was set: engaged at 23, career take-off at 24, married at 25, kids by 29. It was what I wanted and I remember thinking “Thank God my life is not complicated.”

How quickly things change.

A year ago, I was incredible naive. I lived in (what I thought was) a very safe and secure bubble and very little could deter me from (what I thought) I wanted. I had a great boyfriend, I was about to start graduate school and despite the loans I was accumulating, I felt like I was right where I was supposed to be with my life.

Wrong again…. Anyone sensing a pattern here?

In March 2011, I decided that I needed a new challenge in my life and I started running. I took on the Couch to 5K plan full force and though running was and is never something that is easy for me, I stuck with it. On Saturday, March 15, 2011, I ran my first ever road race, the Marblehead Beach-to-Beach 5K with a time of 33:38. It was incredibly difficult but one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.

So, let’s talk about this year’s run, shall we?

I didn’t sleep well Friday night. After deciding against going out with my friends, I went to bed later than I probably should have and proceeded to toss and turn all night from nightmares. Those are always fun. I woke up late and my head not anywhere in the game (not even in the arena…) I ate my 2 pieces of toast with peanut butter and headed to Marblehead a little after 8am.

I was nervous. I didn’t have my Garmin and knew I’d have to run the whole race by feel alone, something I’ve never done. (Side note: it was kind of awesome to not to be glancing at my wrist every 5 seconds…) I knew I wanted another PR. After last month’s race, I could feel my fiesty competitive side fired up for anything better than 31:44.

It was a lot warmer than it was last year but the beginning of the course is pretty shady as it winds through a beautiful neighborhood right on the water. It wasn’t until I hit the Marblehead Neck Causeway just after the first mile marker that the sun was more intense and I was thankful for the water stop that was set up at the end of the road.

I don’t remember the race being this fast last year, but all of a sudden, I was past mile 2, rounding the neck neighborhood and coming back up the causeway towards the finish line. Right at the end, I pushed, hard. I finished in 31:20, a 24 second PR from last month’s 5K as well as beating my previous time for this race by 2 minutes and 38 seconds. If I hadn’t been so tired at the end, I would’ve done cartwheels from the sheer joy of it all.

marbleheadphoto — Marblehead 2012! (Usual pre-race fake smile..)

If you had told me a year ago that today my whole life would be different, I definitely would not have believed you. If you told me there is an terrifyingly exciting life outside of my bubble, I would’ve thought you were crazy. Am I the same person I was when I ran Marblehead the first time? Absolutely not. Will I ever be that person again? Absolutely not. Am I okay with that? Yes.

Am I happy? I’m getting there.

Chase the Gorilla Down Argilla 5K Race Recap

Published on May 10, 2012 by Marie2 Comments

Sooooo, hi. It’s nice to see you around here again… so sorry I’ve been neglecting my little corner of the internet. I’ll try to get out of the bad habit of starting a post and not finishing it til weeks later… like this one.

I ran this race on Saturday, April 14th and I’m just getting this recap up now. I don’t think I’ve ever waited this long after a race to post a recap, but I’m a busy college kid with a lot on her mind, what can I say?

Let’s just start off this post with the best news of this race: I came away from it with a shiny new 5K PR!!!

It was definitely not easy and parts of me were definitely not cooperating but I pulled it off. I was aiming for anything under 32:00 because my previous PR from last September was 32:46. A new PR was long overdue at this point.

According to my Garmin, I came in at 32:01 but when I saw the official race results, I saw a pleasantly surprising 31:44 with a 10:19 pace on the list. Saying I was thrilled would be a huge understatement. I could’ve done cartwheels.

gorila2 — 6:31… that’s my surge at the finish line. Never thought I’d see those numbers on my Garmin!

I signed up for the Chase the Gorilla 5K just a few days before the race. It was one of those “I really need a race this weekend” moments and since this one ran through Ipswich, I knew it’d be great. I convinced my mom to come with me so we were up at the lovely hour of 7am (on a Saturday morning mind you) for some pre-race festivities. And by festivities I mean I ate two pieces of light wheat toast with peanut butter, drank some (but not enough) water and got to the race to pick up my number and a bright blue technical t-shirt a mere 5 minutes before the gun went off.

Timing has never been a strong suit.

I knew I wanted a PR and after running my 10K without stopping and getting in a few solid runs since then, I figured I had it in the bag. Still, I was nervous. And sore. The day before, I decided that doing a full gym workout followed by a 90-minute Vinyasa yoga session and a 2-hour dance rehearsal was a good way to prepare for the race. My bum was very very sore.

It was a small race of 400 or so runners and of course, a gorilla. Races nowadays are a little bittersweet for me. As much as I love having my mom there to take pictures of me and hug me at the finish line, there was always a special someone there who I could literally collapse into. It was one of those things that kept me going I guess.

But I digress.

For the first time since I started running/racing over a year ago, my legs felt like lead. I only have myself to blame for not taking a rest day on Friday, but after the first mile, they loosened up. It was warmer than I’ve been used to running in but managed to make it to mile 2 to the water station without wanting to die too bad. I took a few sips, dumped the rest over my head and kept going.

By the end of mile 2, I was ready to be done. My breathing was really heavy, my face was on fire and my right shoulder had developed a strange twinge-y feeling that I couldn’t shake. I kept saying “32 minutes, 32 minutes” over and over as I rounded the corner to the finish line.

With Kelly Clarkson’s “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger” blasting in my ears, I surged to the finish line, and I-Kid-You-Not did a full on leap to the timing chip platform thing to stop my timer. Embarrassed? Nope.

I glanced down at my garmin, saw 32:01 and had to use what little energy I had left not to burst into tears. My mom came over with water and hugged me and even though I don’t think she fully gets the whole “running thing”, I could tell she was proud.

gorilla1 — I feel like my body looks really strange in this picture. I need smaller pants for sure. And a non-fake-I’m-gunna-puke-before-this-race smile.

Overall, despite being a little overheated and having dead legs for the first mile, walking away a new 5K PR felt incredible and I really enjoyed this race. It’s always fun to beat your personal time and leave what you have out there on the course, even if it’s only 3.1 miles.

The calorie burn doesn’t hurt either.

So, what’s next? I’m signed up for one more race before the summer kicks off. This Saturday, I’ll be running the Marblehead Beach to Beach 5K. For those of you just joining us, this was the first race I ever ran, exactly a year ago. I plan on being very nostalgic. Of course you’ve probably figured out that I’d love to PR this race too but I’ll be content of beating my time from last year, 33:38.

I want to know! Do you run the same races every year to kick your old PR to the curb? What is your 5K PR and what is your secret to beating your time? What mantras do you use to get you through a tough or not-so-tough race?

Life Lately

Published on April 26, 2012 by MarieLeave a comment

Hello!

I haven’t written a post in a while. Life has been crazy lately. Between school, dance, personal/emotional crap and just trying to get through each day, I haven’t had much free time for blogging.

But I do have lots of things to talk about… my most recent race (recap coming soon!), finishing my first year of grad school (done in 6 days!), dance (duh), plans for the summer (London), how I’m getting through each day (I’m sure you’re all dying to know the sad details of that part of my life…) So multiple posts are currently in the works. I may even have a recipe or two up my sleeve. (BTW – if you’re looking for an amazing hummus recipe, try this. You’ll never want store-bought hummus again.)

And for a sweet sentiment that has everything to do with my life right now…

Happy Thursday! It’s almost the weekend.. what are you doing to celebrate?

“Slow and Steady Finishes the Race”

Published on April 9, 2012April 9, 2012 by Marie1 Comment

Do you like my new motto? I feel like it sums me up as a “runner.” I’m not fast, I run for distance over speed (at least for now) and fun fact about my childhood: Tortoise was my nickname from first grade until I went to high school.

turtle — Turtle charm = my reward to myself for running the 10K. The camera charm is from my parents because I'm a Broadcast Journalism grad student. How fitting.

I was not the most athletic kid growing up. I played soccer for 5 years from age 5 to age 10, but wasn’t great at running around the field because I’d get side cramps and be winded in a matter of 3 minutes. I started dancing when I was 7 but wasn’t good at that either until I got older. I was always the kid picked last in gym class when we played cool games like kickball and capture the flag and it wasn’t until high school that I became a fan of professional sports and started understanding why I couldn’t keep running around the bases in baseball if someone out in the field catches the ball. And that was only if I happened to got lucky enough to hit it that far… which was rare.

dancefirst — My first dance recital. Do I look like a diehard athlete to you with my large red bow? No, I didn't think so.

When I started running about a year ago, it was during a time when I needed a new challenge. I chose the Couch to 5K plan and stuck with it. Now, a year later, my personal life is in complete disarray (notice how I said disarray and not something dramatic like “OMG MY WORLD IS FALLING APART” … baby steps, people) but my running mojo has never been better. Funny how life works that way, huh?

freakingout — I ran my first 10K that morning... notice how fake happy/ready to puke I was!

I think the reason I was able to run my first 10K a few weekends back without stopping was because of the emotions I used to push myself. Anger, for example, can really go a long way when you want to prove something to yourself. Regret is another. I’m not saying that it’s necessarily a good thing, but at the time, it helped. I was able to run those emotions out of my body, at least temporarily, and finally felt like running could give me clarity when I needed it most.

But even after I finished the 5K training and got a few races under my belt last year, I wasn’t the type of person to just go out and run. Sure, it’s become my cardio of choice at the gym (sorry elliptical, I like you sometimes too, but you can be a one-way ticket to SnoozeVille) but I’m not one to wake up at 5am and go running every day. Still, it’s become a time when I can just listen to my music and think.

It’s me time.

Since I’m spending 7 weeks in London this summer (God help me as I try to navigate those streets while I’m running) and do not plan on racing there, I want to get a few more races in between now when I leave at the end of June. Unfortunately, almost every single second of my June calendar is filled with some sort of dance something so we’ll have to figure it out when June rolls around. Until then, here’s what’s coming up:

Chase the Gorilla Down Argilla (Saturday April 14th, Ipswitch MA) – Tentative.
Yup, that’s this upcoming Saturday. I’m also competiting with Unyted Stylz that day so I’m still trying to figure out if this race is doable.

Marblehead Beach to Beach 5K (Saturday May 12th, Marblehead MA) – Registered.
I’m very excited to say that I’ve registered to run this race for the second year in a row. This was my first ever road race and I’m determined to crush my 5K PR.

Krit Classic 5K (Sunday June 3rd, Andover MA) – Tentative
Just gotta find some funds for this one and I will be running it.

Ideally, I’d love to do another 10K before I leave for London. Still looking for one of those that doesn’t conflict with dance, but if you know of any, please send them my way!

And in other, completely unrelated news…

– The DanceWorks Boston show is Wednesday, Thursday, Friday June 6-8th at the BU Dance Theater. If you love me, you should come. I’m literally in every other number (7 total including the finale) so I promise you won’t be bored. If you’d like ticket info, leave me a comment or visit www.danceworksboston.com!

– Similiarly, Unyted Stylz is having a performance at the BU Dance Theater on Saturday, June 16th. You should probably come to that too.

– I’ve lost about 8 more pounds and feeling good about myself right now. Thanks running/million hours of dance every week!

– I have 24 days left until the Semester from Hell ends. Oh dear God, get me to May 2nd!!

Oh anchor desk. I love you, but we need some time apart...like the whole summer while I'm covering the Olympics in London. I'll be back in the fall, promise.

Tell me!! What spring races are you planning on running? Do you a good 10K near me that I can run before I peace out to Europe? Do you use your emotions to push yourself when you run? Do you want to borrow my first dance recital costume because I guarentee my mom still has it somewhere. Will you come watch me dance? I’ll love you forever.

Why?

Published on April 3, 2012 by Marie1 Comment

It’s a question I’ve been asking a lot lately.

It’s also a question I’ve been asked and one that I simply can’t answer.

All I do know is that I will keep going. I’m sure there will be a lengthy post coming about everything I’m going through but right now, I have to learn to accept the changes that life has thrown me. At times I feel like I am drowning, I have no idea which way is up and I am unsure just exactly how to get through each day. But I will. Have I completely lost hope? Well, no… but now I have to find myself in all of this. Take care of me and figure out a way to put my pieces back together.

And somehow, among the tears and the emptiness I feel… I have to believe that everything will be okay.

Malden Rotary Club 10K… and a few thoughts

Published on March 25, 2012March 26, 2012 by Marie4 Comments

I did it. I ran my first 10K yesterday. And I ran the ENTIRE THING.

I didn’t necessary stick to my original training plan and even though I did get my butt out to run a few days a week, I wasn’t feeling super prepared. Plus, my head hasn’t been 100% in the game (any game) over the past few weeks and I considered not running it at all. But then I figured if anything, this was something I had to do for me.. and only me.

So let’s go back to the day before my biggest running accomplishment to date.

Friday was rough for the good portion of the daylight hours. After seeing the midnight premiere of The Hunger Games with my friend Greg, I had a completely unrelated breakdown, cried until I got sick, cried myself to sleep and then all morning. I didn’t even go to class. Eventually I dragged my sorry excuse of a human being out of bed, picked up my camera gear from school and spent the afternoon with my friend Sara. And by spend the afternoon with, I mean that I fell asleep at the end of her bed for three hours, probably because I haven’t had a sound night’s sleep in weeks.

A few hours later, Sara worked her magic, made me look gorgeous (not to toot my own horn, but even I was like holy crap,) and we went out for our other friend Steph’s birthday. We went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory where I fueled with their Skinnylicious Pasta with chicken, basil and marinara. I only got about halfway through the bowl before my tummy told me to stop. Apparently 2 weeks of hardly eating will shrink your stomach. Either way, it was delicious and I spent the next few hours having fun with my friends without thinking about any other worries in the rest of my life.

prettyme — Sara does good work... I even *felt* pretty.

I went home to Lynn to get a full, yet restless and nightmare-filled, eight hours of sleep. In the morning, I had my usual pre-race breakfast of 3 pieces of wheat toast with peanut butter and a bottle of water before my mom and I headed to Malden for the 11:30am start.

When we got there, I headed right to registration, picked up my swag bag and tried my best to push all sad thoughts from my head. I visualized crossing the finish line. Before I knew it, I was hugging my mom and heading to the start.

And this is the face of a very nervous runner…

The race itself was pretty small. There was a 5K course and 10K course but only about 350 runners total. The 10K headed out first. As I started running, I felt good. Just 1 mile in, I knew I’d be able to run farther than I had in any other race without a walking break. Usually, I have to stop a few times to walk but as I hit the mile 2 mark, I had a feeling that I wouldn’t need to stop at all and that’s where I started to think “Oh my God, I can do this without stopping.” And once I get a goal in my head, it’s pretty tough to get it out.

I had my Garmin on and it kept my pace beautifully. Sadly, every time I looked at it (which was pretty often), I felt a small searing pain hit my heart. It was a gift from someone very important to me, but we’ll just leave it at that.

I also kept my eyes on a girl in a bright pink tank top who was running ahead of me for the entire race. I could’ve passed her multiple times, but I let her pace me and I think it was the better decision. At times, I’m sure I felt like a shadow to her because I was so close but if I hadn’t used to her to speed up and slow down, I don’t think running the whole race would’ve been possible.

At 4.75 miles in, I called my mom to tell her I was close to finishing. She was reading in her warm car but I didn’t want her to miss my finish. After that, my groove seemed out of step, my stomach was a little less uneasy and I wanted to be done. I kept telling myself “keep going; I want to tell people I ran without stopping; prove to yourself that you can really do it.” Eventually, we rounded the corner to the finish line, I could hear my labored breathing over my music but I didn’t care – I dug deep and pushed, crossed the finish line and grabbed a much-needed bottle of water.

I threw myself into my mom’s arms and started crying. I cried because I finished, I cried because I ran the entire thing without stopping once. I cried tears of joy, sadness, anger, resentment, disappointment. I cried because the one person I wanted to collapse into, to hug me, to be proud of me at the finish line, wasn’t there. I was angry, overjoyed and devastated all at the same time.

And then I stopped crying. Because this day was about nothing other than the fact that I set my heart on something and got it. And it felt amazing. I knew then that if I didn’t give up on running, no matter how hard and painful it was at times, I wouldn’t give up on other things I loved either. And for that moment, I felt calmer than I have in weeks.

On that note, here are some happy/crappy details of the race:

The Happy:

– The weather. I could not have asked for a better day. It was incredibly chilly out, a complete difference than the past few days in the Boston area. I was thankful for the crisp breeze the second I started running because I knew it would keep me from getting too overheated throughout the run. And the overcast kept the sun from beating down onto my already reddened face, so that was nice too.

– My new shirt. A gift from my friend Kim for my birthday, it’s sweat-wicking and didn’t get heavy or overheat me in anyway. I even wore my long-sleeved NDA zip-up for the whole race and only felt super hot towards the very end.

– The swag. I got a long-sleeved T, running gloves, a baseball cap, bread from a local company, a water bottle and other goodies from sponsors like VitaWater.

– The price. The student rate was $10 which is the least expensive race I’ve ever run. I think I got more value in just my swag bag than I paid for the actual race.

– Shot Blocks. Ya know how good runners say to never try something new on race day? Well, I did.. oops. I bought a pack of Tropical Fruit flavored Shot Blocks at New England Running Company and was excited to try them. The only thing I was worried about was any stomach issues that might occur but I took one just pass the mile 2 marker and then another a little ways into mile 4 and chased both with some water from water stops and felt a sudden surge of energy after each. They tasted great, had a consistency that didn’t hurt my stomach and gave me a boost that I needed.

The Crappy:

– My running capris. Apparently they are too big, which shouldn’t be a surprise since I’ve lost about 15 pounds since I bought them. I had to keep pulling them up, which got a little annoying. I’ll buy new ones for my next race.

– The finish line. Not the actual finish line itself, I could see the clock, the girl took my number, normal end of the race. It was who wasn’t at the finish line that hurt the most.

On another happy note, I mentioned on Facebook that if I finished my race, I would reward myself. So this little guy is all mine. My new motto: “Slow and steady ~~wins~~ finishes.. the race.”

And as the title promised, a few thoughts…

I think running is a lot like being in love. It’s an incredible feeling, good for your body, your mind and your soul. Sometimes it hurts like hell, sometimes you want to quit and give up or stop because it’s just too hard. But when you push yourself through that pain, find your stride and look deep in your heart, when you can breathe again and take look around, it is the most rewarding and breath-taking experience in life.

And if, at the end of the race, you have the person you love’s arms to collapse into, well.. I’d say you’re the luckiest person in the world.