Week 23 Training Update for Boston Marathon 2011

This first thing I want to mention is that you have so far raised $10,300 for Children’s Hospital by sponsoring me in the Boston Marathon.  This is an unusually high number for a charity runner to raise and it is due entirely to the generosity of all of you.  If you have not had an opportunity to register your sponsorship and feel you are able to contribute then you can do so here

Several very cool things have happened since my last update.   I received a letter from the Boston Athletic Association officially assigning me bib number 24795 and a corral assignment in wave 3.  This year the BAA changed the starting times a bit for the runners, putting the charity runners in wave 3 which will start running at 10:40, forty minutes after the gun goes off.  With 26,500 runners they have to release them in waves or else the roads will be choked.  I also received my Children’s Hospital singlet in the mail.  All the team members were very excited to get the singlet and I really like the design.  I will proudly wear it come race day representing Children’s.

Today marks the end of my 23th week of training, which I started in October.  My total training miles is 549 miles so far, with 2 more weeks to go. Last Saturday I participated in the BAA sponsored 21 mile training run from Hopkinton to Boston College.  If you are interested you can read all the gory details on my blog here  along with pictures and some video.  The quick summary is that most of it went pretty well, but I did struggle significantly in later miles.  I finished feeling that I could have gone the additional 5.2 miles but that it is likely going to get very painful.

The next two weeks is part of the “taper” period, where I reduce my running miles each week so that my body can heal and be fully rested for the big day.

If you are interested in getting automatic texts from the BAA when I pass various points in the course you can text the word RUNNER to 345678 using your mobile phone.  You will receive instructions on how to track my bib number (24795).  The BAA will automatically send out updates at 10K, Half-Marathon, 30K and the finish line.