6/27 Alaska Marathon Recap

Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them — a desire, a dream, a vision. - Muhammad Ali

When I first started fundraising and planning the trip to Alaska I didn't imagine what a challenge it would be. Physically it was a challenge because I didn't train well. Yes I've ran other marathons, but when life gets in the way...well people cope the best they can. Each time a brick wall was placed in front of me I started thinking what would my aunt say? She would have told me to push forward. But I admit there were many times I wanted to quit, but it's not in me to quit.   

My aunt Andrea passed away a year ago on 6/18/2010. When I saw that the Alaska marathon would be ran on the anniversary of her death I knew I would do this race in her memory. I know she was with me every step of the way. 

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A quick recap of my trip.

Alaska Day 1 6/15: My day was filled with shopping, munching on a reindeer dog, and we went on the search for Sarah Palin. You betcha' we did! Oh and can't forget...our first night hanging out at Humpy's. 

   

Alaska Day 2 6/16: Early in the morning we went on a quick trip to the Anchorage Museum. More shopping and then the rest of the team arrived a little later and then we were off to Moose's Tooth for for some awesome pizza. Then of course another trip back to Humpy's.

The best part about all the "shopping" I did was this cute owl beanie hat. Because honestly that was the only thing I NEEDED to have and really all I purchased. hahah...

Alaska Day 3 (6/17): More sight seeing more window shopping and our inspiration dinner.  



At every inspiration dinner I tell myself...don't cry..don't cry. I cry because I know what I am doing is making a difference. I am so happy I got to share this experience with some amazing people. 

Alaska Day 4 (6/18): Marathon Day.

   

My most amazing friend ever. Audrey Duffy. 

 The full marathoners had to be up an hour earlier than the half marathoners. Our race didn't start until 8 am so we met up at 5:45 am in the lobby of our hotel. YEAH talk about sleeping in! Audrey met us down in the lobby to wish us all a great race. She truly is incredible.  

Check out the smiles on our faces. L - R Elisabeth, AL, me, and Rachelle. Here we are before the race. Whose afraid of 26.2 miles...not us. haha I'm smiling because I'm ready. Ready or not here I come. :D

The course was amazing!!! Anchorage was beyond beautiful. The weather was perfect. Check out the blue skies. Jealous yet?  

  

Here are a few pictures taken by the course photographers.  

I use to cry when I crossed the finish line. Now I just look for the beer garden. :) No wait first my medal then the beer garden. This years medal was HUGE. I know Mark had total medal envy. He did the 1/2 marathon and while his medal was beautiful too, mine was bigger. :D

Alot of people laugh when I say the best thing to do after a marathon is to go dancing. No really. So here is the proof of the dancing after the marathon. 

I always say, and will continue to say it, Alaska Mayor's Marathon is the best Team in Training experience ever. Just ask anyone that has ever done this event. I am still smiling. I love hearing Mark's view on it all. When he talks about our trip he is all smiles. It really was a great getaway. I'm ready to plan our next trip. 

Alaska Day 5 (6/19): Excursion to Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. 

First stop. Bird point. The sign said: What's the Point? Bird Point is a place to reflect and enjoy. 

Look at the beautiful scenery. Really enjoyed this place, so much that I can't wait to go back.  

And now off to Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. 

I love this picture of my friend Al. We were inside a cabana and I clicked a picture of her taking pictures. Hi Al. :D

And then here is my Mark, enjoying the view.

A moose. Up close and personal.

Hugo the bear. Kind of glad there was a fence between us. I was intrigued and amazed but yes I am scared of bears.

The bald eagle. So beautiful, words can not describe.

More bear cubs.

Then off back to Anchorage and off the the Farmers Market. 

Lets just say...the furs were interesting. 

I did at one point try on a fur coat, just to say I tried one on. I felt a little...lets just say fur coats are not for me. 

  I did love this tea pot wind chime. I could totally see the ourside of my house having a couple of these. :D I wish I would have taken a picture of the most amazing Halibut taco I had. Truly amazing. I want to go back now. Just a couple of more days please. 

Boo Hoo. Time to say good bye to Anchorage. While I wanted to stay longer Mark couldn't. I think he now realizes why I wanted to stay longer. Maybe next year??? There is so much more I want to do. So much more I want to see.

Our Trip to DC - Warning lots of photos

10/27/2010

And so our trip begins. When I first started planning this trip I was unsure the boys would even want to come. They aren't exactly young enough where I can say we are going and that is that. I have to ask in advance, beg and plead and hope they say yes. This time I just asked and they said YES. 

So off we went...just me and my boys.  

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10/28/2010

Our first day in D.C. and we off to our tour at the Capitol.  



Our tour took us through some amazing rooms in the Capitol. The paintings and the statues were incredible.  

After our Tour we had the best pizza at We, The pizza. We had walked by the restaurant, kept on walking thinking we'd find something besides Pizza. I think we were just suffering from a case of jet lag because really who could resist Pizza. Yum for the pepperoni pie. Totally worth the wait.   

After lunch we headed on over to the National Mall to visit all the Smithsonian museums. We only visited a couple because honestly we were all so tired and there were just so many museums to visit.

What I loved the most is watching my boys be little kids again. Johnny was excited to see paintings he only learned about, and watching Josh oohhh and aaahh over all the girls, I mean the National Air & Space Museum was awesome. Silly child was just checking out all the girls and saying I could move here. I think I like it here. I was like come on we have more places to visit. 

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10/29/2010 - Time to pic up my racing gear OH YEAH

I wanted to buy everything Marine Corps related. I opted on buying a long sleeve dry fit shirt. It's so pretty...yes pretty.

I picked up my goodie bag, we walked around a bit and I bought a few essentials. My boys don't get it much, why is that running skirt necessary? Why do you need a whole box of sports beans? And more importantly why do you and Mark keep talking about doing more races? One day they will understand what a great high running a marathon can be. Being alone with your thoughts, testing yourself to the limits..oh yeah that is what it's all about. And the medal isn't bad either. 

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10/30/2010 - Spending time with Rosemary

We went to breakfast with the Family. I'm kinda sad I didn't get any pictures of Doug. But that just means we need another visit with him. 

Here we all are. See how much her kids loved my boys.I love the smaller middle picture. Rosemary's kids and my kids all laid down on the sofa for a nap. Totally adorable right.  

After the naps we headed out to get some cupcakes. I needed some sugar!!! I was happy. The rest of the evening we relaxed because we had to be up early for the race.

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10/31/2010 - Happy Halloween....Happy Race Day.

Me to Rosemary and the boys.
OK we need to get up at 4:30, and be at the metro no later than 5:15 am. What? Really? But the race doesn't start until 8:00 am. Yeah well..they are expecting 30,000 people so yes we have to get up early.

Here we are before the race. I don't think you can tell but I was super nervous.

At one point I told Rosemary, OK I change my mind I don't want to do it anymore. Lets go have breakfast. They all laughed at me. Told me I was going to do great. I finally met up with my friend Willie. We would start the race together and then he would take off. I just needed to start with someone because really I was so nervous I thought I would pee in my pants.

And away we went. So while I ran.....

 My boys went sight seeing.

Before I reached mile 18 I called Johnny.
Me: GO BUY ME A COKE.
Johnny: Mom why?
Me: I'm THRISTY, go buy me a COKE!!!
Johnny: Mom we have your coconut water, do you want that instead?
Me: NO!! I want a coke.

I know odd...why a coke? I have no idea, but it's what I was craving at that moment. They only let me take a few sips and off they sent me. I had to reach the bridge at mile 20. If I didn't get there by a certain time they would have picked me up. I am happy to say I beat the bridge by 4 minutes. For my slow butt..that was awesome!!

6 hours,43 minutes, and 49 seconds later I was done.

Considering the first 8 miles was all hills not to bad on my half time. I did have to pee really bad after my half so I took a quick stop and took a little tinkle. I was tempted to go in the bushes. Those darn porta potty lines take forever!!

And here we are at the finish line. I love getting bobarded with hugs and kisses from my boys.

We headed back to Rosemary's in Bethesda, I took a nice hot shower then I was ready to go trick or treating. What? Yes you read that right, I wanted to go trick or treating.

Meet the cutest Minnie Mouse ever. Little John was sick and couldn't come with us, so Sophia made sure to get extra candy for him. How sweet right. With that smile who could say no.

It was a great last night. I am ever so Thankful to my friend Rosemary...oh yeah you too Doug :P . Doug made me watch scary movies and then tried to scare me. All in all it was a great family trip. I am so happy the boys came and even happier they didn't complain much.

Crossing my fingers that we can do this trip again next year. HOPEFULLY I will have them with me on the course.  

My marathon day.

3:45 am - Get your butt up, it’s time to get ready.
4:30 am - Meet downstairs in the lobby with the team and get on the shuttle buses to the start line.
5:00 am – 6:20 am - Some where in between here I get in line for gear check and go visit a port-a-potty. My goal is to take a BM before the race so I don’t have to take one during the race. I go to the port-a-potty. I almost throw up from the smell. I exit as quickly as possible without taking a BM. GROSS.. Marathoners take the worst BM’s!
6:25 am - Get in my corral and get ready for the gun.
6:30 am - I am still in my corral, but hey at least the fast runners got to go first. LOL
6:43 am - OK finally I crossed the official start line. So what if there are 20,000 people in front of me, I’ll catch up. Yeah don’t laugh I can only dream to catch up with the Kenyan’s all the way in the front. OMG I saw the most wonderful shirt at the expo, it said… “In my dreams I am a Kenyan.” Yeah baby, that is me. In my dreams I am a Kenyan.
After 6:43 am I lost all track of time and start looking at the mile markers.
Mile 1 – first potty spot. My teammates, Audrey and Susana, have to go potty and it’s time for me to rub some instant pain relief on my chins. I was like what the heck! For once can’t the pain just go away!
Mile 5 – Susana took off. Yeah she left us.
Mile 9 – Audrey and I meet up with a teammate, whose name will not be divulged. I’ll tell you why later. Anyway, we meet up so teammate, she asked Audrey and I how we were doing. We are feeling great and tell her we are running a 3/3. For all you non-marathoners a 3/3 is a 3 minute walk with a 3 minute run. We chat for maybe a minute with said teammate and then she says, “Ok well I am going to leave you in the dust now; I am off to find Peter.” Peter is the walk coach and was somewhere ahead of us. Audrey and I just looked at each other and said OK, see you later.
Mile 12 – Hello? Hey Bucket its April. WOO HOO APRIL! Thank you so much for calling me! You don’t know how much it means to me that you called me. WOO HOO BUCKET… where is that coming from? Ohhhhh lllooookkk there are my teammates cheering us on. I cry. I am so happy to see them.
Mile 13.1 – WOO HOO Half Marathoners. We see a few of our teammates at the finish line and yell out and say WOO HOO GO TEAM. Secretly I did wish I had stopped at the half marathon finish. As I waved good-bye I told myself OK there is no turning back now, I need to complete this marathon.
Mile 17 – Picture Time. Audrey and I look at each other, fix ourselves and smile pretty for the pictures. I had the biggest smile on my face. The photographers were like.. WOW that is a great shot, keep up the good work. Yeah baby!
Mile 18 – Guess who we see? It’s our “Eat my dust Teammate”. Audrey and I looked at each other and laughed. So we caught up huh. Yeah so maybe starting off really fast didn’t help you much did it? Slow and steady was our motto, so guess what “EAT MY DUST!” No I didn’t really say that to her, but yeah I thought it. LOL.
Mile 19 – this is the cut off point, if you don’t pass this point by 12:30 pm the van picks you up and takes you to the finish line. Audrey and I passed it at 12:10 pm! We were like.. yeah yeah we did it. I was flying high.
Mile 21 – Picture time again. So I had just gotten off the phone with April and she said she was concerned because my time was not being updated. So I made sure to listen for this checkpoints buzzer. So imagine this, I see the photographers, smile for them and then figure ok that’s it. As I am passing the checkpoint I jump on the electrical wires to make sure the buzzer goes off, I am laughing as I do this, I look up and wwoooowww where did you come off there is a photographer right there. He laughed and said that was a great shot, I can’t wait to see that picture!
Mile 22 – WOO HOO Team in Training. There are my friends again. OOOHH can’t even tell you the feeling!
Mile 23 – Hello. Hey Bucket… It’s Laura Fiore calling me. Hey Laura. Bucket where you at? I’m at mile 23. Ok call me when you get closer to 24 I want to run you in. YEAH HOO! I had been looking for Laura all day so I was so excited she called me.
Mile 25 – Oh it’s my Tyler waiting for me. Ok its Coach Tyler, but all the girls on the team are like Oh Tyler, Oh Tyler- you get the picture so I had to give in. Oh look there is Laura. OH LAURA! You don’t know how much it means to me to have you as a friend. We are running and then she yells at her team, THIS IS BUCKET!! Her team starts cheering me on. Oh they are the greatest.
Mile 26 – Ok the finish line is right over the bend. Ay ya ya.. my feet don’t want to run anymore and I’m starting to slow down. Why now? I wanted to finish fast and now I am going to crawl across? NO WAY Audrey wouldn’t let me. So here we go. Audrey grabs my hand and leads me across the finish line. Want to see it? Click here and watch the clock at the top of the screen. http://video.nbcsandiego.com/player/?id=257855 When the clock hits close to 7:36:53 watch the right hand of the screen. See those two crossing the finish line holding hands? Yep that is Audrey and I. I sure do love technology!
Mile 26.2 – My mom and my sister are out there to greet me. I can not put in words the emotions that overcame me. I hugged my mom and cried like a baby. My mom cried too. I don’t know if she cried because I was crying, or was she crying because I was so smelly? LOL.. I love my mom.

So do you want to know what it feels like to do a marathon? AMAZING! The feeling is indescribable! For me it wasn’t just a marathon, I got to run with Audrey Duffy. Who is Audrey Duffy? Audrey is a 6 ½ year cancer survivor. Her goal, for 2008, is to have completed 20 Leukemia and Lymphoma Society endurance training events. This event was her 18th event! She plans on doing a Triathlon in September and then the San Francisco Nike Marathon in October. I asked her, how she does it? How does she fundraise for all of these events? She told me she isn’t afraid to ask. She will send out emails and ask for money, and when someone tells her, I’d love to donate but right now I just can’t. She turns around and says “I’d love not to have cancer, but I don’t have a choice!” So true don’t you think? Audrey is amazing; I do hope to be able to do more marathon events with her. I had a blast getting to know her, and hey the best thing is she never slowed down – because honestly I am slow and I thought I was slowing her down.

After the marathon I went back to my room, took a nice cold shower and went and had some dinner. Around 7:30 pm one of my roomies, Bridget, was like…Lets go.. lets go see Pat Benatar. We weren’t going to go because our other roomy, Kelly, was a bit out of it. She had blisters on her feet that looked like huge grapes. I wish I had taken pictures but I didn’t have a chance, and honestly I couldn’t move fast enough to get my camera. So quickly we get ready, and head on out to the concert. I call Laura..and in few minutes WOO HOO we are singing to Heartbreaker…!! I was singing and dancing. You would have never known that I had just completed a marathon. I can’t wait to do it again.

There you have it. I love it and can’t get enough of it!






Oh that there is Bridget -> hahahahah can you only imagine all the laughs we had in our room!

Marathon Training Journal

In case your interested, I am keeping a journal of my training runs on my fundraising page. Click here -> Give2TheBucket.

This weekend I did 9 miles - just for fun. Next weekend it's 10 miles at Killer Hill!! oh yeah.. anyone care to join me?

Another Marathon?

Did I tell you I was training for another marathon? No. Really? I thought I did.

Did I tell you I was fundraising again? No? Really? I thought I did.

Have I told you lately you are awesome and that I'd do anything for you? No? Really? I thought I did.

These are my conservations lately. I think I tell someone something and in my thoughts I did tell them.. but then I didn't.

Well I am doing another marathon. I'd love to go back to Alaska, but not this year. I'll be training with Team in Training to do the San Diego Rock n Roll marathon. This is my 3rd year out there, but it will be my first doing the full marathon. My last two years I've only ran the half, so this year I'd doing the full.

Also this year is a bit different for me. I'm running in honor of my aunt Andrea. While she may not have a blood cancer she is fighting cancer. So if you can please help. All I'm asking for is $5. Yeah $5 is easy right. Well I figure if my friends, and their friends, and their friends donate $5 that I should be able to meet my goal. So can you help me out?

Click here.. to find out more.