New Year - new baby!!

November 19th Athena Grace Elliott was born 3lbs 5 oz. She spent her first night at home this past friday. She was in the NICU for some time, everyday gaining more and more weight and trying to maintain all her vitals We all could not wait until she was able to come home. So, here she is- FINALLY - at 4lbs 12oz!!

And here are Athenas big sisters- Kiara and Catalina-

Among other things, Dave and I went to Loon MTN to do some boarding for 2 days. I have a whole week off from Xmas to New years , and so did Dave, so we wanted to try to do something. Since we like boarding but we don't get to go often, this was a perfect time to go. It was fun & expensive too, but what else is new.

Happy new year to all!

Halloween & NYC
Its been a while. Im not running outside much, just strength training for the winter and a few miles on the mill. Its a good switch up before I get back into the spring running.
Halloween was great this year. Dave and I went to my freinds house for a party and everyone was dressed up. Its was awesome, who are we supposed to be ???

We also went to the city on Sunday to meet up with some of Daves close family freinds. It was a very fun day. We explored the wax museum and also natural history museum. If you have never been to a wax museum- you should go- its a hoot. Here are a few of my fave photos- I wont show too many- dont want to spoil the show for you if you ever go.

AND MY VERY FAVORITE PHOTO of ALL-

Me and Al- we go WAAAAY back.

I finished!!

HEY all! I'm alive and well after yesterdays marathon! Overall a great day for running! The weather was perfect! I did well, a few second slower per mile than last year.... but at least I did it and finished!
I started of a bit too fast, I think.


I do have some complaints about this years race- 1. I got to the Civic Center a bit before 7 am and they were out of Marathon shirts!! (and NO I didn't want a half-or 5k shirt DUH) so now they have to mail them to everyone who didn't get one at the start. 2. the course changed- "more flat and faster!" NOT- I would have preferred last years course. The last 5 miles had more hills than the last 5 last year... not where you want the hills!!! I think Im going to try a different one next year.
The good things about this years race- Dave met me at mile 23 to push me through. Boy did he try! But my legs could only go so fast, it was the slowest he has ever seen me run (a fast walk for him) But I would have ended up walking more and longer each time if he was not there. Thanks Dave! The food at the finish was WAY better than last year. Couscous, Orrzo salads, Stonyfield smoothies, soups and beer!
A great day to run- and at least I finished... Ill have to train harder next year to get out of this same time rut =)

Hartford Marathon Approaching!

First - Congrads to everyone who ran in Chicago under the extreme weather conditions. And may you recover fast and easily.

October 13th Saturday 8 am - Hartford Marathon! My second marathon, last year I ran Hartford as my first. Im really looking forward to the end of the race where they changed the route and there is not those hills that i remember. Also looking forward to the END of the race in general. I just want to get it over with. I have yet to decide if Im going to wear my GPS. My goal for this year is to be a little bit faster - without the hills at the end I think its possible, but lets not jinx it.
Wish me luck and send me energy, I will need both in good amounts.

We Reached the beach!

Another great year at Reach the Beach relay. The Gogo girls were complied of new members and alumni, me being my third year attending.
The new course started at Cannon Mountain and cruised up the Kanc for the first 7 legs. By up I mean - relentless hills, specifically the 3rd leg= 7.7 miles ALL up hill.
The first day was awesome running weather. Until about 1:30 AM Sat. it started misting. Right at the beginning of my second leg (1:30-2am-ish) it was pouring for 5 minutes then it went back to misting and continued to mist through out the night. The down pour happened on ME later. My last leg of the race 6.8 miles and for the first 4.5 it was pouring on me. I was wringing my shirt out and my tutu was soaked. But I managed to just not worry about it.... after all it was my last leg. Then 3 more people to run and we would be FINISHED. Everyone managed to run fast- these women were amazing.... mostly 6.5 -8 minute milers!!
We came in second place in womens category and our overall pace was 8:02 Per mile. (if it wasnt for me Im pretty sure we would be under 8's....im a bit slower than the rest....)
Pretty awesome pace for a 207 mile race. We get new fuel belts!!
We were beat out of first place by The Maine Road hags- only 9 women on their team and their pace was 7:30!!!!! They were awesome runners!

Another long run.......

Another long run with M and we managed to crank out 18 miles. From Mystic to Stonington Borough and then back down Rt 1 and over the drawbridge and down River Road. A nice loop, even though rt 1 was straight and boring. She pulled away from be quite a bit up some hills(she was ahead of me the whole time actually), she powers up them like its nothing- amazing! Once we hit the borough we were at just over 9 miles, and it was breezy by the water, it was going to be another 4 miles or so until we got to Mystic and could refill our water and use the restroom. I think the thought of using a restroom was the only thing that kept me going until we got into downtown... I was getting tiered! Once we got to the fountain we refilled and off we went for the last 3-4 mile stretch down river road. I had to walk a while and Melissa went ahead of me. It was getting hot and I was getting tiered. I finally made it to the end of river road and we walked up one of the last hills and M started running again and i did a few minutes later. She hit over 18 mark and I was able to run the last 3 tenths of a mile to just hit the 18 mark. We walked the last .40 mile up the hills back to Ms house. Sometimes those last 2 miles seem like an eternity.....it did for me this day.

Only a few more long runs then the marathon.......now I just want to get it over with.

Next week is Reach the Beach and we have a full team!! will update when get back.

Injuries, recoveries, and no more bug.

Its been a while, basically because A) my piriformis muscle started acting up last week and I skipped my long run and spent the week with a heating pad under my ass.
B) I started my new job!!! exciting and its going well. We have summer hours - 4 (9) hour days and a 4 hour work day on friday! so its like a 2.5 day weekend. AWESOME. And yesterday I biked over the Groton bridge to work for the 1st time. It was neat being that high on the bridge. Turned out to be about 11 miles round trip.
C) this week i did some awesome running because I'm feeling better and today I did 18.53 miles! the last .53 I walked ... but I was so relieved that I felt good and that I was able to keep going. My hill drills that I did this week went so awesome, its getting easier every time.
So I had hoped that I would do New Haven 20k on monday but its saturday and I did my long run without my injury flaring up, and I really don't want to push it.
Its been a busy week but I prefer it that way sometimes. Another added note- we sold our 73 super beetle last week. So sad, bye bye blue bug. =(