First Snow of the Season

There wasn't much but the kids sure loved the first snowfall.  I'm grateful they don't mind playing in the cold since we'll be doing it a lot this winter!

Christmas Kick-off

We were off to see Santa to officially start the Christmas 2014 season!  Carter couldn't have been more thrilled for the candy canes and the opportunity to ask Santa for the dragons he wanted, but Quinn was terrified!  I guess it's not really Christmas season unless there's a screaming toddler on Santa's lap!

 Burlington Mall, Burlington, MA

Buddies in the Bath

Leaves

Super Halloween

Carter chose the theme this year for Halloween and it turned out SUPER!  He was quite the adorable Superman and Quinn was the cutest little Wonder Girl.  We convinced daddy to play along as Batman and I joined the fun as Wonder Woman.

Halloween began with our annual carving party with the Parkers.  Each year we get better and better at carving and the end result this year was definitely our best!

We finished the night with trick-or-treating in Beacon Hill.  Carter and McKenna were the best team tackling the hills and collecting some tasty treats!  It was a great night with our little super people!!!

Harvard v. Yale

Crimson for the win!  It was a cold one, but worth it to watch this fantastic rivalry game!

Harvard Stadium, Cambridge, MA

Baystate Marathon

The Baystate Marathon was full of ups and downs.  It was a practically perfect day weather wise except for a pretty significant headwind along 6-7 miles of the course.  My mom and I separated at the starting line with our respective pace groups and wished each other good luck.  I was pretty excited to get started and had a hard time holding back my pace for the first three miles.  I finally settled in with the pace group and hoped my legs would start to loosen up soon as they usually do around mile 6.  Unfortunately, mile after mile I felt stiff, but I was holding my pace without expending too much energy so I hoped my legs would last through the end.  Right before hitting 13. 1 (halfway) I saw Carter, Chris, and my dad and that gave me a much needed boost!  From there, everything was going okay as I began the second loop of the course.  I could feel my legs wearing down, but mentally I was strong as I kept telling myself to take it one step at a time.

My pacer unfortunately had stomach issues around mile 16 and disappeared only to return at mile 20 when I started to fade.  I predicted he would return just as we hit the downhill and that he would take off so I knew I had to be ready to kick it into gear.  Just as he came into view, I saw him speed up ahead to push the downhill and as I attempted to catch him, I realized I didn't have that much left in the tank.  I was able to hold my steady pace for another two miles (with the pacer in view) but at mile 23 my stomach and legs began to cramp and I realized I would have to slow down to even be able to finish.

Mile 23 was really long.  Mentally this was the hardest milestone of the race because it's where I started to focus more on the pain than my goal.  I just knew I had to keep moving my feet though so I did, albeit slowly.  Then as I finished up mile 23, things started loosing up a bit and I could go faster, though not fast enough to stay on pace.  I checked my watch--11:20 at mile 24.  I knew I had to finish by 11:35 to get my Boston Qualifier and I had 2.2 miles to go.  I realized it would not happen this time and it was hard to accept that I had missed the cut by so little.

By the time I saw my family near the finish line, I just wanted to burst into tears.  I was mentally and physically drained and totally convinced that I would never run a marathon again.  Fortunately a hug from my favorite bear helped me enjoy the accomplishment of a new PR and being very close to my BQ.  I only wish mom and I had stayed together since she only finished 6 minutes behind me (and got her BQ!)

Now to qualify in Phoenix in February!

My fan club:

Baystate Marathon, Lowell, MA