My supporters

A little Friday fun for everyone. Folks- this is what happens when you are unemployed and spending too much time running.

Here's to my best supporters and mascots...

My monkeys showing just what support looks like (Mickey and Bubba are wearing the 2010 Bottom Line Thong and fueling for their next run by eating Gu; George is sporting the Bottom Line Team Go Far singlet and loving it)

Bubba, rockin it.

The Bottom Line Thong, on a human.

Thanks to all the Bottom Line supporters out there!

16 miles tomorrow morning and I know my monkeys have my back.

What I think about when I think about running

You have a lot of time to think when you are running. People say that running is the best therapy, and it's true - several hours of pounding the pavement and your mind better have something to touch on. I find that I can't plan too much what I'm going to think about, it kind of just pops out of nowhere and then I'm pretty much on a mental joyride while my body is doing its thing. I've come up with amazing come-backs, for example, on long runs. Or planned a week of to-dos. Or had an entire argument, from both sides, and realized what needs to be said. My brain can really focus on one issue for a couple of hours and really run it through my system until I feel like I'm a thinking machine. I find a lot of clarity with sweaty, uninterrupted thinking. You should try it sometime.

My original running partners, Kate and Catherine, used to plan our running agendas when we were training for a marathon together. We always ran the first few miles together, before our paces staggered a bit, and the agenda was usually as follows: 1) Boys, 2) Work, 3) Travel. We could have solved the problems of the world together, but I guess there is only so much running you can actually do.

Running is great therapy because of the thinking that can be done; it's also a great empowering experience because of the people you run with. I am running with a great group of people, all helping to support Bottom Line. It truly helps to have someone cheering you on when you are faltering a bit mid-run, and to have people there to clap you across the finish line. But I also have to acknowledge the people I think about that get me out the door and that are in my thoughts during a lot of solo moments of my training. So this one is for my ladies, my running partners and friends. Training for a marathon is hard, and, for me, it would be impossible without them.

I think, too, about how impossible it would be to get through an experience like college without the same support network. Knowing that Kate and Catherine were somewhere in front or behind me during a run made a huge difference for me. I can only imagine that having the support of Bottom Line, just knowing someone is out there to lend a hand or an ear, makes the same difference to some of the students I'm running for.

So, thank you to everyone that has supported me and Bottom Line students so far. Life is a marathon, and marathon's are hard. Thank you for the help, the food for thought, the inspiration and the love!

9 weeks and $3500 more to go...

I ♥ Heartbreak Hill

"Heartbreak Hill is an ascent over 0.4 mile (600 m) of the Boston Marathon course, between the 20 and 21 mile marks, in the vicinity of Boston College. It is the last of four "Newton hills", which begin at the 16 mile mark. The Newton hills confound contestants (out of proportion to their modest elevation gain) by forcing a late climb after the downhill trend of the race to that point. Heartbreak Hill itself rises only 88 vertical feet (27 m), from an elevation of 148 feet at the bottom to an elevation of 236 feet at the top, but is positioned at a point on a marathon course where muscle glycogen stores are likely to be depleted—a phenomenon referred to by marathoners as "hitting the wall." - Wikipedia

***

Everything hurts.

I make old man noises getting up from a seated position. Or walking up stairs. Or walking down stairs.

My left calf seizes up regularly, and I've realized that it's affecting my knee and my lower back. I have pretty severe lower back pain that just won't go away. Also, my left groin doesn't feel right and sometimes I feel like my left side is going to collapse at any moment.

All of this, of course, and I still have cellulite and tree trunks for thighs. No one tells you this when you start training for a marathon. I think of it a little like a pregnancy: I eat more, my body has strange demands and doesn't quite feel right, and I have this vague feeling that I just won't really ever be the same again. Of course, I have no idea if it's like pregnancy...I'll have to ask my pregnant friends what noises they make when they pull themselves out of bed in the morning or if they have a dull fear of having gotten themselves into something without really knowing what they were doing. However, I'm pretty sure heartbreak hill is a breeze compared to childbirth, so perhaps I should stop myself here.

With all these developments, I've decided that running is just not enough. This week, I will be starting to add core workouts and cross training to my schedule. (I know, I know - what took me so long? Listen people- I'm not superwoman!) And so it is that exercise has taken over my life.

Because of all this, I also have a new cocktail in my life. My friends know that I enjoy a good martini from time to time. Well, my new drink of choice is a little more nursing home fabulous than I'd like, but it dulls the pain and makes me feel yummy. Just mix two parts advil with three parts chocolate milk and you've got yourself a party!

Eating like a man

(Photo: Jessica Szhor (no, not me) from Men's Health June 2009)

The past two weeks I've noticed a worrying and familiar trend.

I've started eating like a lumber jack.

I mean, I can really polish off a meal...with gusto, in startling amounts and with a hunger that is a force to be reckoned with. I do remember "the runner's hunger" from my first marathon training. Somehow, though, I feel like age is not on my side this time. A 30-year-old woman shouldn't be eating like this. Like a man. Only I would run a marathon and not lose a pound. Ugh.

Last weekend, after a long run on a cold day, my boyfriend and I made pasta for dinner. We both sat down at the table and looked at each other and our plates like two dogs over their dinner bowls. Fingers could have been lost.

Ultimately, I lost that round. Eric finished off his pasta and I was left tired and uncomfortable with food still left behind. That wasn't the case the week before when pad thai was involved. I'm pretty sure I saw both horror and respect in Eric's eyes when I polished off my pad thai like a hyenna sucking the marrow out of a carcass. I'm in training, what does he expect?

It does make me wonder what happens when men train. Eric already eats like a man, naturally. So, now, he just eats like a fat man trapped in the body of a little man. Beyonce said it, and I agree, there is a fat girl inside me clawing to come out. The fat girl in me and the fat man in Eric make unappetizing dinner partners. Probably a good thing we run the fatsy twins into submission.

My inner fatty might win at dinner, but I'm dragging her along this Saturday for 15 miles and that bitch better get in line.

Thong-a-thon!

Folks, we have a winner.

Some of you may remember that I had a t-shirt contest back in December to come up with a snazzy tag line to help sell t-shirts for fundraising. Well, some of you participated (thank you, thank you) and some of you chose to leave the good ideas to the experts. Well, I'm glad you did. The beautiful, the talented, the oh-so-clever, Catherine Hanley came up with the snazziest slogan that ever was.

It is my pleasure to introduce my 2010 Bottom Line fundraising apparel: The Bottom Line Thong!
Participate in the February Thong-a-Thon and help Boston kids get into college and graduate!

Thongs are $15. Please email me for sizing requests and details; I am happy to accommodate all sizes and shipping needs ;) sjcooper79@gmail.com

Congratulations to our winner; Catherine will be receiving a free thong and the warmth in knowledge that she helped a kid get into college!

(Frozen) Blood, (frozen) sweat and (frozen) tears

I'm halfway through my training and it feels like things are just getting started. And just starting to get very real.

For the past 11 weeks, I've been doing runs during the week (when I've been able to peel myself out of bed) and never missing a long run on the weekends. But, the marathon has been far off in my mind and it's been easy to say I'm in training, never quite feeling that way. But as the mileage increases (15 miles this coming weekend), my life is starting to adjust itself around my training schedule. Friday nights, for example, I like to be in bed by 10 p.m., so I am rested and ready for a long run at 8 a.m. the next day. Saturdays, therefore, are dominated by pre-run preparations, the run itself and then post-run haze. I'm a big mess of jelly happiness on Saturdays: I barely drag my wobbly knees into the shower to wash the salt and road off, then manage to eat and collapse into bed. This past Saturday, it was 6 p.m. before I felt normal again, and then really never recovered enough to be a useful human being for the night.

Running also gets a lot more real when you are dealing with freezing temperatures. On Saturday, I woke up to stare with shock and horror at the weather report: 6 degrees with a wind chill of -14. It was 6 a.m. and I was clutching my coffee like a lifeline and blinking at wunderground.com. It just couldn't be. I was thinking back to a morning a few weeks prior, when it was 18 degrees out and, as I crossed the Mass Ave bridge to return to the Boston side, I had the unpleasant realization that something was wrong with my eyeball. The wind was careening through my body and whipped right through my left eye until I could feel my eyeball juice freeze. Ick. Frozen eyeballs are what separate the "Exercisers" from the "Trainers," at least that's what I think. If I just wanted a smaller ass, then running outside in sub-zero temperatures wouldn't really occur to me. So, when it came to running outside in even colder temperatures this past weekend, I had my reservations. Luckily, my roommate Nicole let me borrow her ski mask and I started suiting up:

• Two pairs of socks
• Two pairs of running pants
• Three shirts
• Two pairs of gloves
• Ski mask
• Hat

I looked like a ninja. I felt like a moron.

It did the job, though. I felt like I was running with a force field around me and the 13 miles went by pretty quickly. Because of the cold temperatures, the only other runners I encountered were those that were training for something. And a guy pulling two tires behind him (and I thought I was cool looking like a ninja...)We all nodded our heads at each other, happy in the knowledge that we were on some sort of hard-core spectrum in life. Also, realizing that we were all a special breed of moron to be running in 6 degrees.

Sadly, my eyeball still froze. Next time, I'll have to bring some sunglasses.

With 11 weeks to go, I am officially in it. I vow to write more, run more and raise more money!