I just got back from the Feaster Five in Andover, MA. They had a record number of runners for this year's race with over 10,000 runners. The Feaster Five allows you to run either a 5k or a 5 miler. I did the 5 miler. As further proof that my training is actually working, I set a personal record for a 5 miler finishing in 36:24. Another pretty cool thing is looking at the results and seeing your name on the same page as Joan Benoit-Samuelson (Page 6 of the results). I'm sure it was just a leisurely jog for her, but still, it's not every day you get to say you did a road race with an Olympic gold medalist marathon runner and finished ahead of them!
The race itself was well organized. Easy driving in before the race and easy getting out after the race. I knew that due to the large number of people including walkers, people with strollers, and people with dogs (legally) that runners in the past have had issues with slow people impeding their runs. Knowing this, I made sure I jockeyed for a position near the front of the field at the start of the race so I hopefully wouldn't have to deal with traffic on the course. I started at around the 7:00 pace sign and had no major issues. The 5 miler and 5k course split apart around a mile into the race and there was no congestion after that point until they merge back together around mile 3 and it gets a little bit crowded but nothing I wasn't able to weave in and out of.
Post race swag was decent. Plenty of chips, bananas, apples, water, vitamin water, and table talk apple pies. All things considered, it was a fun race and the weather was perfect for Thanksgiving morning (about 40 degrees, sunny, with no wind). I'll definitely consider doing this race again in the future.
Training Update
The official training is still a few weeks away (December 10th). But I've been racking up the miles on the treadmill, on my lunch breaks, and on my weekend long runs. As of this moment, I've logged 407 miles since I began my "pre-training" in early September. That's borderline insane just seeing that. But anyways, this blog now has a widget on the right side so you can see how many miles I've run. Things will change a bit when the real training begins since I'll be doing less slow treadmill running and mostly outdoor running at faster speeds, colder temperatures, and in the dark for much of the training. So I'll get to try out my new nighttime and cold weather running gear.
Fundraising Update
I haven't really done much on the fundraising front since the initial emails and probably won't until sometime next year. There's a fine line between being persistent with your fundraising and annoying everyone you know with too many emails. That being said, if anyone would like to help support my run in the 2013 Boston Marathon for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, please head on over to: http://www.rundfmc.org/2013/andrews. Your donations are tax-deductible and go to support the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research, which funds the brightest, most creative scientists making basic research discoveries. Here are brief descriptions of selected projects supported by the Barr Program, illustrating some of the program's most significant impacts to date. Did I mention that donations to Dana-Farber make great Christmas gifts? :)
Marathon Update
This just arrived in the mail yesterday from Dana-Farber. So I guess there's no backing out now!
