Boston 2007-- the round up

With the marathon safely behind me, at least now I can look back at my last terrified post and laugh...the doomsday weather predictions only sort of came true, which made the race conditions not so bad but the tough/cool points accumuluted high as everyone I knew saw the weather on TV and assumed I was singlehandedly slaying a tornado/hurricane/nor'easter while running.

But first things first: the food.

I've been hearing Brian rave about the North End (and diss Baltimore's weak Little Italy) for at least the past three years, so our first dinner in Boston on Saturday night naturally ended up there. And not just any restaurant in the North End-- it had to be the legendary Giacomo's where the line stretches around the block and the same waitress has been there for decades dishing up superb Italian food. Luckily the rain hadn't started yet, so the hour or so in line wasn't too bad and we kept things cozy with a bottle of champagne from the "connah liq-ah sto-ah". They even came out with a garlic bread appetizer to keep us happy in line!

When our group was finally called inside, it was like stepping into heaven...warm pasta and garlic smells, cozy atmosphere with only a few tables, and an open kitchen to watch the chefs serve up their specialties. I had the butternut squash ravioli with asparagus and a mascarpone cheese sauce, which (only after ordering) the waitress leaned in and said "those are the BEST." And they were. Good music, old friends, amazing food.


Just when I thought it couldn't get better, we went to "Bust Outs" for dessert where they have a machine that injects ice cream into any dessert you can think of. I was literally giggling I was so excited-- it was like a cross between Willy Wonka and the Jetsons. We got ice cream filled cupcakes (topped with chocolate) and shared all around...a sweet ending to a perfect night, and I might have to go back to Boston just to try everything else on the menu.

Sunday the torrential downpours and howling wind started, so we laid low...tested the new rain gear on a short jog, walked around Harvard Square, and cooked a big pre-race meal back at the house.

Race day came bright and early (ok, not so bright...it was still raining) as I woke up at 5:30 after a restless night's sleep. The official shuttles took all the runners west to the starting point in Hopkinton, where we would hang out in the "Athlete's Village" until start time (for me in the 2nd wave, 10:30am). I'm not sure what I was expecting in the Athlete's Village, although it probably involved being warm and dry and with access to water and bathrooms since we would have to wait there for 2+ hours. It turned out to be tents over grassy fields which were basically giant mud puddles, with port--o-potties hundreds of yards away (in the rain). I don't think I'm a high maintenance runner-- I don't have fancy gear, I don't eat GU, and I don't have a strict pre-race routine. BUT, sitting on a trash bag in the rain for 2 hours, with my feet soaked through to the skin, was not my favorite marathon preparation (especially disappointing coming from the most famous marathon in the world!) God bless the lady from California who shared her blankets with me and helped keep me warm for the last hour.

Finally it was time to head for the starting line, and magically the rain started to let up..first slowing to a drizzle, then a drop or two, then not raining at all. It was perfect timing and a much needed optimistic sign as we headed for the race corrals. In the first corral of the 2nd wave, I was not used to being so close to the start or anywhere near to the front of the pack...I think those factors, combined with the race starting out mostly downhill, made for a fast start.

Although it made it difficult on spectators, I ended up really liking the point to point race course. I liked seeing the landscape change, from farms and country houses in western MA, to upscale commuter suburbs, to college campuses and finally downtown Boston. Spectators lined the course from start to finish, and I really felt like I had a destination-- rather than just running in circles for 26 miles. It sounds silly, but running faster makes the miles pass quicker so I tried to keep up the pace-- each mile I could do under 8 minutes meant the sooner I would see my friends, the sooner I could shed the excess layers, and the sooner I would finish this puppy and get home to a hot shower and post-race meal.

My friends Kate and Pete were lifesavers around mile 17-- I handed them extra clothes, they handed me an odwalla bar, and it was a mental lift seeing familiar faces and knowing I was past the halfway mark. Coach Ledyard waited for me at 22 with propel and jellybeans and at that point it was the home stretch...I saw my GG friend Christine at 23, Pete and Ann at 24, and then suddenly it was a mile to go!

The finish line was an incredible spectacle and a relief to see after 3+ hours...huge crowds of fans, banners and balloons, and knowing that it was only a few more minutes to push tired legs to keep running. My final time was 3:24, 5 minutes faster than my qualifying time at Marine Corps.

The rest of the day is a bit hazy...collecting my bag, Brian carrying me down the steps to the T, peeling off socks to see Athlete's Village mud from 7 hours earlier, a canceled flight at Logan and an overnight Amtrak to get back to Baltimore. Friends and family and co-workers have been amazing with all the support and good wishes and online tracking and emails...and while my sore legs are trying to convince me never to run again, the happy afterglow of Boston already has me thinking about my next race :) And last but not least, the two funniest quotes of the weekend:

1. Guy in a bar asks Brian if he's running, he says no, but she is and points to me-- the guy looks over and says (imagine the thick accent): "Who are you, a regular Steve Prefontaine?"
2. Boarding the bus to go to the athlete's village, the bus driver asks if I'm going to win the race. I say that I'll certainly try and she says "Good! Cause I only want winnas on this bus. I'm looking for a winna!"

Rain, with a chance of heavy wind, sleet, snow, and hypothermia

Suddenly this whole Boston Marathon thing isn't seeming like such a great idea. Granted, I'm in full on taper paranoia mode, but the friendly "weather alerts" sent out by the Boston Athletic Association this week aren't helping much.

FORECAST:
The most up-to-date weather forecast calls for a predicted Spring storm on Monday, including heavy rains (potentially 3 to 5 inches), with the start temperatures in the mid to upper 30's. Wind will likely be East (in the face of the participants for most of the race) in the 20 to 25 mile per hour range, with gusts to as much as 50 miles per hour. This will produce a wind chill index of 25 to 30-degrees Fahrenheit.

They go on with a thorough discussion of hypothermia, warning signs, risks, etc...slightly scarier than the one from Wednesday which only mentioned rain and wind! Considering I came home from a windy run one day this winter and announced to Brian that I was quitting the marathon training, wind is not exactly my forte.

Whose idea was this anyways?

UPDATE: I didn't even realize until I posted this that it's Friday the 13th! And the book "The Perfect Storm" is packed in my carry on bag! Suddenly everything is seeming very horror movie like and I'm not sure even the promise of carbo loading in Boston's North End can get me on a plane tomorrow...

San Francisco 1, Plastic Bags 0

Thanks to a tip from Outside Magazine, I recently subscribed to Daily Grist, an eco-news summary that comes out, yep, daily. As a lifelong trash-hater and recycling fanatic, I literally squealed with delight when I read one of the headlines on Wednesday: "San Francisco approves first-in-nation ban on non-recyclable plastic bags." San Francisco businesses alone hand out 180 million of these puppies each year, so you can imagine what the world wide usage is like...the good news is that bans are also in place in South Africa, Bangladesh, Taiwan, and Paris. Next up, Baltimore or Washington DC?

I tried to think back on how I ended up with such a distaste for disposable things like plastic bags and styrofoam cups. I do remember watching my mom doing laundry at a young age and cutting every dryer sheet in half, loudly exclaiming that each load of laundry does NOT need an entire dryer sheet and she would NOT get suckered into buying more of a product than necessary. Stick it to the man mom (those Peace Corps habits die hard). I adopted her philosophy and began re-using my brown school lunch bags (because using a lunch box was way uncool in middle school)...each day after lunch carefully folding it up and putting it in my pocket to take home and pack with lunch for the next day. Only when they bags were stained and literally falling apart did they get thrown in the trash.

In college I got many questioning looks when I told people I was majoring in economics and environmental studies. "But don't those two, like, not go together?" Of course they do! Businesses use resources, resources cost money, and if they can cut their resource use while delivering the same product, they will, ta da, make more profits. Or, if my mom can cut dryer sheets in half and use fewer boxes, she's buying less and going easy on the environment. Each plastic bag grocery stores hand out in San Francisco costs them money and they then provide this product for free to customers and it likely ends up in the trash. They should be thanking the San Fran government for helping them stop literally throwing money away!

My other rant on this subject is the disposable coffee cup-- namely Starbucks since you see the most of those around (in the trash, gutters, sidewalks, everywhere). On a long training run through DC I stopped counting the number of cups I saw people carrying around, and it wasn't even the morning coffee rush! Now I spend a good part of running time dreaming up schemes to get Starbucks to stop using so many cups. Allegedly they do have non-disposable cups for use in the store (though I've never seen one handed out) and they also have a measly 10 cent discount if you bring your own mug (though many cashiers aren't aware of the rule). My best idea at the moment is a sticker with barcode you put on your own mug that lets you accumulate points each time you bring it in, and after a certain number of drinks purchased you get a free one. I know, I know, a store with a highly addictive product does not need a reward system, but consumers need more than 10 cents to overcome the laziness hump and bring their own cup-- and a free drink on the fifth day (free coffee Fridays?) just might do it.

Last, while I've been dreaming up ridiculous coffee mug schemes and feeling like the only person in America who squirms at the thought of trashing a Starbucks cup, I found Bring Your Own, a great resource with both website and blog. At least I'm not the only one dragging a ten year old mug around everywhere I go-- and after surviving the Boundary Waters tornado of '99 together, I think the mug and I have a few more years left in us!

Don't tell my grandparents I'm in Ann Arbor...

Seriously. Growing up as a third generation Ohioan (on both sides of the family), I learned early to bleed scarlet and gray, root for the Ohio State Buckeyes, revere heroes like Woody Hayes (who famously pushed his car across the state line rather than purchase gas in Michigan and give "that state up north" any of his tax dollars), and most importantly, HATE Michigan. I mean, do children in any other state sing nursery rhymes titled "I don't give a damn 'bout the whole state of Michigan?" (refrain: 'cause we're from Ohio, O-H! I-O!) I distinctly remember a needlepoint my grandmother had framed and hanging on the wall that said "Thank God I'm a Buckeye and not just some nut."

I was reminded of these aspects of my childhood recently during the wedding planning process when the most difficult part of finding an agreeable Saturday in Columbus for my family to celebrate the beginning of the rest of my life mostly centered around avoiding the OSU football schedule, particularly home games, and especially (god forbid) the Michigan game. Part of me wanted to pick an important football Saturday just to see what the relatives would have actually chosen (though fear that I would lose to script Ohio and fierce Big Tem rivalries left me marrying on Oct. 21, following the guaranteed victory over football weakling Indiana).

Yet here I am in Ann Arbor for the first time, attending a conference put on by the William Davidson Institute about Global Social Innovations in the Third Sector (the things I do for the love of social enterprise!) It's been really interesting so far, especially sharing ideas and challenges with people from other organizations around revenue generation, sustainability, venture philanthropy, grantmaking, etc. Despite speaking last in the day on a panel that had already run overtime, I (hopefully) managed to speak coherently about the GG model and student contributions.

Conference aside I've been pleasantly surprised by my time in Ann Arbor...the sun came out this afternoon and I had a great run through the UM arboretum, enjoying the spring weather and attempting to keep to a training schedule for Boston. Dinner at Zingerman's was fabulous (as predicted by my coworkers) and merits its own post-- all I'll say for now is the sweet potato fries were the best I've ever tasted and the speech by Ari, the founder, inspiring. The UM campus reminds me a bit of Chapel Hill, and I think it must be the good public university vibe...lots of populist for the people by the people kind of feeling, mixed in with a healthy dose of state pride and leaning a bit lefty/crunchy/hippie. A few things have reminded me that while Ann Arbor reminds me of my college years, it's geographically closer to my hometown Columbus-- the car driver yesterday, when asked about good local restaurants or bars, offered up Buffalo Wild Wings and Damon's (and I promptly had a flashback of being 12 years old post-gymnastics meet and digging in to a Damon's onion loaf, one of the more sketchy appetizers I've ever eaten though delicious at the time). To top it all off, the front desk guy at the hotel reminded me I could get "ice and POP" just around the corner from my room. Thank goodness for the midwest, onion loaves washed down with pop, and bits of nostalgia even in a most hated rival town.

Begin It Already!

Roughly four months after intending to start a blog, here I am writing my first post and finally getting started...yet again at the tail end of another technology frontier but excited nonetheless about a new project! I named the blog "Begin it Now" for few reasons, ranging from the practical to the philosophical:

• I did actually start blogging four months ago, it was just in my head where no one else could read it. So the title is an admonishment to myself to stop procrastinating and do the damn thing, for real, in public.
• After fifteen years of competitive gymnastics, striving for a perfect 10 yet constantly falling short (and getting publicly judged in the process), I'm trying to ditch the fear of failure and mistakes (which usually just leads to procrastination, see above bullet). Hopefully this new beginning will let me experiment and enjoy not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.
• I'm a firm believer in the power of individual action to drive positive change, but this power can only be realized if we overcome inertia to start new things, big and small. I feel like there's a lot of exciting bits and pieces of innovation flying around these days, that when added up can lead to a tidal wave of good stuff.
  

Of course the title is just the beginning, and after four months of internal blogging I've got all kinds of posts swimming around upstairs-- the unavoidable bloggy navel gazing, but also the daily obsessions of work and running, inspirational people and events, sports and settling into a new city, and anything else that crosses my path. I can promise that it won't be perfect, but I hope it might be a fun ride along they way.