March Madness.

Well I just got back from St. Louis to watch the NCAA D1 wrestling championships, Gregor's a senior this year so it was our last chance to see him in action.  Both Gregor and Torsten had some real tough competition, and really did a great job.   The food was great:The Drinks were great :)

 And the wrestling was great (Note Robles, who ended up 4th at the tournament only had 1 leg - very inspiring! But...I've got to keep in shape!  I've decided that its always fun to run on vacation, different things to see, different people.We were only 2 miles or so from the St Louis Arch, so that was our daily destination on our runs, we joked that we ran down to the mississippi and went for a swim:

It was a riot, and I'd definitely go back to St Louis again, however it took me 3 days to get back in the swing of things, the trip was exhausting!  Today I finally donned (is that how you spell that) my running sneakers again, (but no shorts, it was only a balmy 29 degrees this morning when I ran) and put in 10 miles.  I think wednesday morning will be my 10 mile day.  I plan on just running middle distances the other days and a longer one on saturday.  My next race: Lilac 10k and JP morgan chase corporate challenge!

Asking for trouble?

Against my better judgement... I'm going to sign up to do the Wineglass Marathon again, Ok, I'm just saying that, its not against my better judgement at all, it's so what I want to do. :) Although, this year, this isn't a Christmas gift!  so I'm gonna have to think of a witty title for the blog for this year.  I qualified for Boston with my last marathon, but now that I know I'm perfectly capable of finishing one, I think I might put in a little more training and actually try to "race" one.

I've been getting back in running shape, very slowly getting ready to toe the line again.  I've decided that a marathon is a strange beast.  It's months and months and months of training, all culmin

ating in 3 plus hours of not exactly what I would call fun, followed by an incredibly long time of proclaiming to everyone that will listen how much you suffered through it, but all the same how proud of yourself you are, followed by a few months of awe.  And then...that magic moment when you forget how much it hurts and sign up for another one.  Thats where i am now.  I admit it, I may in fact be a glutton for punishment. But now I've done one, It really was no where near as bad as I thought, and now I know what to expect, and I think I have a better idea how to train, and I have a bench mark for improvement.

But this year, I plan on dragging a few people down with me.  So far, my cousin Daniel, Marc and Dave Sennett all want to sign up for the 26.2 mile jaunt from Bath to Corning.  The hotel rooms have been booked!  However, the entry fees have not been paid; my buddy Dave says that I have to wait until Tuesday, because thats the day I registered last year - so it MUST be lucky!

I did my first running race of the season yesterday, Johnny's Running of the Green.  My time was 33:24, which is my best 5 mile time ever by almost a minute, finishing 142nd overall and the 20th overall female in a field of 1500, not bad!  A bunch of my friends raced and had a great race too.  

I got up this morning and ran 5 miles (even though it was the last thing I wanted to do!) with my friends Jon, Kyle and Matt; but of course running a little loosened me right up and then I felt fine.  It was a Forge Training Camp weekend, we did a lot of paddling and training and of course a little beer drinking; it was a riot!  Which reminds me - don't forget to check out my new website: www.forgeracing.org ; Well I'm exhausted, so NIGHT!

Wineglass Marathon!!!! I did it!!!

I always wanted to be able to say that I ran a marathon, and now I can! It was an absolutely awesome weekend, details to follow, and I'm not even walking too funny!


My family (my aunt Kathleen, Ivy, Grandma and Grandpa) met Marc and I at the expo on Saturday afternoon. Where Marc and I picked up our numbers and Champagne splits (yummy) and then we had time to kill, so after we made reservations at the world famous Sorge's in downtown Corning, we made our way to the Corning Museum of Glass, which is always pretty interesting, and then off to eat a whole bunch of yummy food and a couple of beers at Sorge's restaurant! We spent the night in Bath at the Super 8, and then it was up early to head down to the Philips Light Company for the start of the race! The temperature was a very chilly 37', but I had brought some light mittens and a hat and some arm covers to keep me warm, things that I didn't mind if I had to lose, but it turns out that it never really warmed up, and I was comfortable in those things for the entire day! Everyone seemed pretty excited to see how the day would unfold!





This is me and Grandpa at the start of the race! His Christmas gift- that he had to wait 10 months for!








As far as the race itself - It went off pretty well, especially for my first marathon (i say that like i'm going to do it again - that can't be a bad sign) Marc and I ran together for a little while, he wanted to run it just to see if he would feel any better from the rochester marathon, and ended up pulling out because he hasn't healed from Rochester, but he found a penny from heaven probably about 6 miles in and gave it to me! Which was excellent, I put it in my pocket and thought about it often! (for those of you who don't know about my pennies from heaven - everytime you find a penny on the ground it was put there from a loved one in heaven who is wishing that they could be there with you) and I got a huge lift from my family waiting at around mile 9, I had to reach out and give them all high fives!


Everyone always says that a marathon can be divided into two equal parts, the first 20, and the last 6.2. I can attest to that. At around 21 miles(granted I just bent over to pick up another penny from heaven which was probably a bad idea, i hadn't stopped running at all until that point, and then putting my head down below my heart was probably a bad idea) but the last 5 miels or so were very challenging, but I kept my head up, and managed to get to Corning!
My sister agreed to run the last quarter of a mile with me! So that was something that I looked forward to for the last 5 miles, just waiting to see my sister - and boy was that a treat! I'm SO glad that she decided to gut it out and run a bit with me! We crossed the finish line together, and she talked me through it - saying - come on Holly, you're almost there, we can see the finish line - etc - what a great little coach she turned out to be!



After the race, I had to show my family the pennies from heaven that I had found, I gave one to Ivy :)

I thought it would be nice to sit down with my sister for awhile, waiting for the awards...but then I couldn't get back up.

My overall stats:
I finished in 3 hours 26 minutes and 12 seconds
I was 100th overall finisher
9th overall woman
and 3rd in my age group
I also qualified for Boston, which I plan to run in the year 2010.

All in all, I loved running the marathon, and I definitely am going to run more of them. i took yesterday off of work, but today I rode my bike in, and I don't feel too bad, I have a little hitch in my giddy up, but nothing to write home about. I definitely will be running the Wineglass next year!

1300 miles, my half marathon and 9 days to go!

I'm a terrible blogger, I admit. I doubt anyone will even get this first blog in almost 3 months!!! I could never keep a diary either, I used to try, when I was Ivy's age. I'd enter in it maybe once or twice and then it would be discovered months later under my bed with dust bunnies all over it, and then the next entery would start with. "I know you haven't heard from me in a while"...

I know you haven't heard from me in awhile...BUT big things have happened and are happening soon!

The 90 miler was a huge success! We had some trials and tribulation as we often do in that race, but I really think that's WHY you do the race!

I also did my first half marathon a week and a half ago. I'm sure many of you heard that the weather was terrible, about 90% humidity and 90 degrees. Despite that - i had a RIOT! It was so much fun, there were so many supporters out and it is most certainly an accomplishment!

As I sit here my running shorts are stinking the place up next to me. Starting in August I've been running to and from work every day, for a plethora of reasons.
1)it kills two birds with one stone, I need to run, and I need to get to work..perfect - its about 4.25 miles to work so that gives me about 8.5 miles a day - and its not an easy 4.25...
2) I HATE U of R parking, so I refuse to buy a parking permit
3) It saves on gas!!!
All that being said, my total miles as of right this very instant is 1281 miles this year! So by the marathon I will be over 1300, which I hope wll be enough!

This Christmas gift is about to be given! The plans have been set- and a week from Saturday Marc and I will drive the course and meet grandma and grandpa at the Wineglass Marathon Expo!!! To tell you the truth - I'm pretty excited!

800 miles!

After the 5 miles I ran today in the sweltering heat, my yearly total is 800miles! wow!

I'm actually feeling very good!

I developed tendonitis in my ankle a few weeks ago, and for awhile I couldn't run on it at all, just a little pressure on it and it felt like someone was stabbing me in the leg! But after a few days off, and taking it easy for a few weeks, I feel almost as good as new!

Last week my cousin Katie came up and paddled and ran with me. She ran a total of 24 miles with me last week! AND entered in her first ever 5k! and...SHE PLACED! She got third in her age group! I'm so proud of her =). It was the fourth of july Firecracker 5k! She sounded very excited to have run the 5k, and said that she would like to do it again! It was a pleasure having her around to hang out with - i even took her to her first baseball game. We went to see the Rochester Red Wings, and had a blast!

The weather hasn't been too agreeable the last two days - it's been a very humid 90 degrees, and sleepy head holly has been sleeping in so I have to run in the heat - YUCK!

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

Boston! ?

Last night after dinner, Marc very nonchalantly mentioned...he is going to run the Rochester Marathon this year.

Well Jeepers...

I decide to run a marathon and I create this grand hoopla story - make certificates - make a blog.

Marc says, would you pass the salt? oh and by the way I signed up for the Rochester Marathon this year.

So our goal - to qualify for Boston next year! So it looks like - unless there are any major catastrophes - I'm running TWO marathons in the next year! We'll see!

Jeepers am I tired

Well, sorry its been so long since my last update...but since the 70 miler - I've been BUSY!!! I made an eansy beannsy mistake. I didn't think it was a mistake at first...and in the long run, maybe it won't be....but...

I asked my friend Rick Guido -henceforth referred to as Guido - for a little advice on running a marathon.

30 articles, a weekly running log, and detailed schedule later...I'm running my arse off...

Guido is a nationally recognized girls track coach, and he is VERY good at what he does. and VERY THOROUGH.

It's really neat to have direction etc., but I don't know if I was ready for ALL of this...

Well thats really it for now - I'll keep you posted =)