Boston...

Today has been surreal. I have all of these great things to post about this wonderful city...and instead I sit here and cry. Ali and I were heading back to the finish line area today when we heard two very loud explosions. It was so out of place to hear an explosion over the crowds...and we kept walking. We attempted to get on the Subway, but were quickly evacuated from the station. We then smelled a thick, sulfurous smelling smoke. We stood in the street in disbelief as the world around us turned into chaos and confusion. We witnessed runners and spectators crying, staring into space, and trying to get the hell away from the finish area. The sirens started almost immediately, and have just recently started to quiet down hours later. My mind began reeling with the "what-ifs". I spent no less than 5 hours with my butt parked right across the street from where those explosions occurred. At one point I think I even suggested to Tristan that we should move to that side of the street and sit in the sun! What if we had moved over there? What if our husbands had run slower? What if I had brought my boys with us to this race? I keep reminding myself that I cannot dwell on these thoughts. I will forever be grateful that our husbands and friends were able to finish their races and enjoy their Boston run. All of us will leave here heavy hearted and shocked at how close we were to such a tragedy. My emotions are a wreck as I want to hold my two boys and assure them that Mommy and Daddy are safe and sound. As we walked back to our hotel this afternoon we witnessed a policeman escorting a woman who had obviously been running the race into the back of a police car. I overheard the officer tell another that he was escorting her to the hospital, where her husband was in serious condition. The look on her face as she sat in that car sobbing for her husband broke my heart. Family members and friends came out today to show their love and support for the runners...and now some of them will not make it home. I cannot wrap my head around this. Cannot make sense of it. Do not understand. I am angry!!! I am scared. I want this to just be a bad dream. Tomorrow we fly home and try to get back to our normal lives, and I will pray for those who can't. Please do the same.

Boston Taper Week

I cannot believe that we will be leaving for Boston on Saturday. It seems almost surreal. Many runners dream of running the Boston Marathon...and Ali will be able to check this achievement off his "bucket list" next Monday morning. He has trained so hard for this, and I pray that everything goes as planned so that he can run the best race he can. His goal is to run easy and enjoy the course.

I want to personally thank all of Ali's training partners. I am so excited that many of these guys will be joining us in Boston! Jim, Kenny, Daniel, Rebecca, Dale, Steve, and everyone else who has taken the time to join Ali on a long run...I thank you. To those of you who have whipped his tail with speed workouts, you have my gratitude. To those who pushed him in races to run his very best, I am grateful. He has come home angry and cursing you all after tough, hot training runs, but he wouldn't know what to do without you. He is so blessed to have such a supportive group of runners to both encourage and challenge him!

Ali's training for Boston has gone pretty routine, until recently. He has been struggling with a calf strain for the last week or so. Ali has always laughed at me for walking around in my tall Swiftwick compression socks and KT taped knees, but I believe I have converted him. He will be sporting my socks and tape in Boston haha!

A rough idea of our weekend plans:
Saturday night- arrive in Boston
Sunday- I will run the 5K then we will go to the Marathon expo for packet pick-up, maybe see some of the Freedom Trail, and then dinner with friends.
Monday- Marathon!! More of the freedom trail, Boston Harbor, and relax :)
Tuesday- fly home

The finish line for the 5K is the same one they will use for the marathon. This will be the first time I will ever cross the finish line before Ali!!! I pray that I will be able to finish the 5K without aggravating my knee injury. I was able to run a two mile test run this week pain-free...so I hope this is a sign that my knee is finally healing.

The teacher in me is beyond excited to be going to Boston. I cannot wait to visit a city so full of history!! The American Revolution is covered in my 5th grade curriculum and we just recently finished this unit. I plan on taking tons of photos to share with my class. I wish we would have been able to stay an extra day or two just to see all the sites in the city. Poor Ali will be doing some touring on his tired marathon legs!

The one tourist location that I think will be most interesting is the site of the Boston Tea Party. I believe watching Ali squirm as all that tea is thrown into Boston Harbor will be priceless. I will definitely have to see if I can get access to the reenactment. (For those of you who don't know, Ali is British and this part of the trip has been an ongoing joke between us.) He is actually reading me the British account of what went down in Boston as I type this. Hahaha. This should be a fun trip!!

I will be blogging about our adventure in Boston next week...so stay tuned!!

A family photo taken a few weeks ago at the Azalea Trail Run. 

Have you ever been to Boston? If so, what do you suggest as a "must see"?

Starting Dead Last

Pensacola Beach was the scene of Ali's latest running adventure. Read all about it here...

Melanie's friend Larisa approached me recently about running the Gulf Coast Half Marathon in Pensacola as a way to help her raise money for The Little Things For Cancer. Her fund raising idea was unique, and I agreed to help her out.

My goal was to begin at the back of the pack and pass as many people as I could over the duration of the course. Sponsors could pledge to donate an amount per person that I passed, or they could give one flat donation. The money pledged would go to the charity.

Starting dead last at the Gulf Coast Half was a fun experience for me. I have to say this was perhaps one of the most scenic courses I have ever run. The course followed the beach road which provided runners with fantastic views of the beaches and the Gulf of Mexico. Looking out at the water certainly helped make the miles go by faster. And then there were the water-stations. Whoever came up with the idea of a competition for the best water-station was a genius! Music, decorations, costumes, & fun…these were far from the typical water stops and certainly helped to make the run an enjoyable experience. As I crossed the finish line I was handed a cool medal that also serves as a bottle opener. Neat idea! The after party at Flounders was as good as post race parties get. Beach setting, live music, and plenty of food and drinks for the runners. Great job Gulf Coast Half!

Here I am at the start of the race.

A closer view of the awesome (and useful) bottle opener medals.

Darby and Tyler worked as volunteers. They helped get all the medals ready to be distributed.

Here I come towards the finish. I finished in 1:31, and 23rd out of over 1,700 runners!

The Gulf Coast Half Marathon is actually a part of a three race series. Next year I hope to run all three races in the series.

Zombie Run

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to dress as a zombie and chase random strangers around? I got to do exactly that on Saturday!! I got up early that morning and joined my friend Larisa for our drive to Gulfport, Mississippi for the Zombie Run. Once we arrived, we were directed to the waiver tent to sign our lives away. After signing in, we were directed to the zombie pavilion. We were hurriedly transformed into the undead. The makeup artist used liquid latex and red Karo syrup to add details to my face and arms. Here is my "after" photo:

The makeup took some scrubbing to get off, and I was thankful someone in the group brought baby wipes!

Here is a group shot of the great group of ladies who were part of my zombie group. It was great meeting up with Mindy, Gina, and Holly! Gina and I ended up teaming up to try to grab some flags from our victims as they came off the obstacle we were working at. Notice the orange ribbons hanging from their shirts? The ribbons say "caution, biohazard". I thought that was pretty funny :).

We were stationed at an obstacle near the end of the race. By the time they got to us many runners were already "dead". I still managed to pull 4 flags!! It was a lot more difficult to get those flags than I thought. Some of the runners were very intent on surviving the apocalypse, and it got a little physical at times. I did more sprinting than I thought I'd do, and I was glad that I had taped up my knees with my KT Pro tape. I love that stuff. No knee pain today :)

I ran into a couple coworkers today too. Jamey and Jennifer were there running the course. It was fun seeing them there, even if I wasn't able to snatch their flags! Here is a picture of me and Jennifer after the race.

We intended to run the 5K course after our zombie shift was over, but we were exhausted by the time our shift was up. We headed on to the after party to get our shirts and medals. The shirts were awesome, and the medals were cool too. Zombies and those runners who lost their flags got the "infected" medal.

These are the medals that the survivors received. Their medal had a red ribbon and said "survivor" on it. Our medal had a black ribbon.

Here is another group shot of some zombies from our group. The guy in the front dressed in the cloud pajamas was awesome!! He kept us laughing the whole time with the way he taunted the runners. At our obstacle, runners were given Nerf bows and arrows. If they shot a zombie, they got a flag back. Pajama Guy (as we referred to him) was shot more times than anyone! It was a good thing he was already dead. Hahaha.

Here is a closer look at my medal. It is now hanging on the awesome medal hanger that Ali bought me for my birthday.

The Zombie Run was definitely a new experience for me. I enjoyed chasing after people and meeting new friends. I hope to be able to participate again next year, as I have some great ideas for a fantastically creepy costume! I also hope to be able to run the course next year after working a zombie shift.

Let me introduce myself...

Hello everyone!

Welcome to our blog. I have been throwing around the idea of starting a blog for a while now, and my friend Larisa has convinced me to go ahead and get going. I (Melanie) am a 5th grade teacher and a runner. I have been teaching for 13 years and running for just about a year and a half. My husband (Alastair, or Ali as most people call him) is also a teacher and a runner. He has been teaching PE for 12 years and running since he was 6. He has also ventured into the world of triathlons recently and is training for an Ironman! We met at work and it was love at first sight (not really...but it sounds good right??)  Ali and I have two boys, Darby who is 10 and Tyler who is 8. Both of our boys run too. Darby and Tyler participate in local 5Ks and fun runs. Darby has also participated in a children's triathlon.

Ali and I are complete opposites when it comes to running. He is fast...I am slow. He is a marathoner, I'm doing good to have done a half. He averages 50 miles a week in training, and I may do 10 on a good week. Get the picture? When we run together, he literally runs circles around me.

Through our blog we hope to show two different perspectives on the races we participate in. He will tell his side of things from the front of the pack, and I'll tell mine from the middle of the pack or even from the spectators position. We will even get the kids in on the action when we can, so you never know what might be posted!

We have a lot of events coming up...the Zombie Run, Gulf Coast Half, Boston 5K, and the Boston Marathon. Stay tuned to read about our adventures!

Me at the Crescent City Classic last weekend. I walked the 10K in an hour and 25 minutes...while Ali finished in 36 minutes! I told you we were opposites! We both had a great time and enjoyed the day in New Orleans with wonderful friends.