28 January 2014

Training Tuesday - Boston Bound!

So, on Friday, I was minding my own business, working on the computer and trying to think of something to blog about.  My phone was sitting right next to me, and I got a notification that iFit was now following me.  I thought to myself, "cool," and kept on working.  It was the next notification that turned my whole world topsy turvy!


I seriously squealed like a little girl!  Then I started shaking... when my mom came in to see what the commotion was about, I started crying while saying, "I think I just won entry to the Boston Marathon!"  I kept freaking out and a few moments later my dad came in to see what all the hysterics were for, and I told him, "I think I'm running the Boston Marathon!" He gave me a hug and said, "Congratulations!" and my mom chimed in, "I thought you saw a bug..."  Needless to say, it was a little surreal and crazy!  I kept shaking and crying and FREAKING OUT!  Then, of course, I had to notify the most amazing and supportive friends in the world - #CorralG.  I sent out a text message, and suddenly the phone was blowing up - and leave it to Linzie to provide the appropriate GIF for the moment!  

I posted a teaser on Facebook, but wasn't ready to make it "Facebook official" because I hadn't received the email from iFit with the details.  It was all still surreal to me.  Of course, if you were on twitter, you knew because there was the tweet for all to see!  A lot of my Facebook friends figured it out because I mentioned "well... if you've been on twitter in the last 20 minutes..." and headed over to find out what was going on.  I have to say, my favorite reaction on Facebook was from a cousin, Elizabeth, who said, "WHAAAT!?!?! You go on with your bad self!  Also, my friend Alison, who quoted my reply to iFit, "SEEIOUSLY!"  Obviously, I was a little too excited to even allow autocorrect to fix that one!


Shortly thereafter, I had to pull myself together, because I was supposed to be meeting a friend at the movies.  On my way to the movies, I had to also call my origin BRF - Jason - and let him know the news.  Especially since I still have the voicemail he left me on 4/15/13 asking if I was in Boston after the bombings.  I originally got his voicemail, and if I can figure out how to get it, I'm going to ask him to send me the audio of that message if he's still got it!  He didn't listen to the message before he called back, and we chatted briefly about what was going on.  And then of course he was like, "shouldn't you be at a movie?!"  I laughed and told him I'd just arrived and that we'd touch base soon.

It was a little difficult to sit still and put my phone away to watch a movie, but luckily Frozen is an amazing movie.  I left the movie and went straight to another event, Martinis and IMAX at Fernbank Museum (a MUST visit when in Atlanta), and when I got home, still no email.  I was a little apprehensive, but knew I just needed to wait patiently.  This was a legit entry from a legit company, things just moved a little slower than I wanted.

Over the weekend I knocked out my 15 mile training run, as part of my Donna Marathon training plan, and had the joy of having Jason join me for part of the run.  We talked about the insanity of winning an entry to Boston, and what I would be doing to train.  I had the last 3 miles to myself as I headed home and formulated a plan... 

I'm taking a cue from others that post a "Training Tuesday" blog post, but adding a little twist - each Tuesday from now until April 15, the Tuesday before Marathon Day, I'll be posting about how my training is going, and highlighting something that is getting me through my training.  It might be about an apparel product, my shoes, nutrition, or something that I use for post-run recovery.  I hope you'll follow along with me on this adventure, and hopefully learn about some amazing ways to get to the finish of 26.2 miles.  Because let me tell you - I may have four marathons under my belt when I get to the start in Hopkinton, but when I cross that line on Boylston it will be like no other finish!

And as I've said from the beginning - if I can do it, YOU can do it!


I won an entry to the Boston Marathon from iFit.  This was a waiver entry, where no qualifying time was required, but a registration fee was still my responsibility.  All opinions expressed are my own.  I was not asked to post, but wanted to share the excitement and my experiences getting to Boston with my readers.

4 comments:

Jen said...

I am so incredibly excited for you and cannot wait to follow your journey and cheer you on from home during the marathon!!!

eep said...

This is so exciting! I am looking forward to reading your Training Tuesday posts and following along. And I hope you read my comment with the appropriate southern accent!

Unknown said...

Ellizabeth - I'm pretty sure that's how it translated in my head! (even without thinking about it!)

Meghan said...

Ok, so this is the news! And OMG! It's amazing! Congrats! I am SUPER excited for you - what an incredible opportunity!