March 28, 2009
The week of the last long run had finally arrived and Team Donahue was ready to go. We planned to run along the Marathon course on Sunday, but as the week progressed, it became clear that the weather on Saturday was going to be optimal. As you may have gleaned from previous posts, Mike is significantly faster than the rest of Team Donahue, so he made plans to run with his crew. Heidi, Christine, and Sharon planned to run together. For this significant and special run they were joined by Christine’s sister Maria, a former DFMC member (3 years!) who agreed to act as road crew during the run. In order to simulate the impact of the race on the runner’s quads as much as possible, we initiated the run in Hopkinton, at the official starting line. It was so exciting to see all the other runners out in Hopkinton kicking off their runs as well.
The week of the last long run had finally arrived and Team Donahue was ready to go. We planned to run along the Marathon course on Sunday, but as the week progressed, it became clear that the weather on Saturday was going to be optimal. As you may have gleaned from previous posts, Mike is significantly faster than the rest of Team Donahue, so he made plans to run with his crew. Heidi, Christine, and Sharon planned to run together. For this significant and special run they were joined by Christine’s sister Maria, a former DFMC member (3 years!) who agreed to act as road crew during the run. In order to simulate the impact of the race on the runner’s quads as much as possible, we initiated the run in Hopkinton, at the official starting line. It was so exciting to see all the other runners out in Hopkinton kicking off their runs as well.
All along the course we were cheered on by folks manning various water stops, sponsored by the charity teams – “Joints in Motion”, “Team in Training”, "Run for Research", "The MGH Team" and "Miles for Miracles" – running clubs and sporting goods folks. It was inspiring to see so many people out there cheering for us when it wasn’t even marathon day!
Every three miles we were treated to Maria’s special road crew trunk which was stocked with water, Gatorade, Gu, and just about anything else we could have needed. As the miles wore on, Maria started greeting us with exactly what we wanted – we felt like elite runners! Here we were stocking up at Mile 12. Sharon and Christine were sporting the fabulous DFMC shirts available through Laura, another DFMC team member (http://www.twentysixpointtoomanymiles.blogspot.com/).
Every three miles we were treated to Maria’s special road crew trunk which was stocked with water, Gatorade, Gu, and just about anything else we could have needed. As the miles wore on, Maria started greeting us with exactly what we wanted – we felt like elite runners! Here we were stocking up at Mile 12. Sharon and Christine were sporting the fabulous DFMC shirts available through Laura, another DFMC team member (http://www.twentysixpointtoomanymiles.blogspot.com/).
We all survived Heartbreak Hill and ended the run in Cleveland Circle – 22 miles. Following tradition, we shared a post run lunch at 21 Nickels in Watertown.
Later that evening, the entire team Donahue, including Mike who had also rocked his run, were treated to “timball” a fantastic pasta and pastry dish that had been prepared and decorated just for us (can you see the 26?).
Race day? Bring it on!
2 comments:
Hey Team Donahue - sorry we missed you last Saturday at BC - where the other DFMC runners who started in Hopkinton with you ended their run - along with all who ran out/back on the course from there.
But our track runners are hitting 21 Nickles tonight after our workout on the Belmont HS track - come by for a brew and to say "hey".
Otherwise - see you soon.
Jack
Christine ~ the link to your donation page is not working. Good luck with your run. I will check back again to check the link. Lots of Love from Nantucket.
Post a Comment