Rockin' Around the Esplanade ... and Farewell 2011

Well, it's officially official ... I finished my last race of 2011 and reached my $5,000 self-imposed goal of funds raised for the ALS Association of Massachusetts in memory of Grampa Hudson.

Sunday was a COLD and WINDY day on the Esplanade but my friend Kate pony'ed up and joined me for my last 5K of the year as a training opportunity for her Jingle Bell run next weekend. After snapping a few photos we checked our bags and lined up eager to get moving so we didn't turn into Popsicles. I had forgotten what it was like to run in cold weather since its been so darn nice for my last handful of races.

The course was an easy, VERY flat loop that turned back on itself just after mile 2 so the start and stop were in the same location, albeit in reverse. The winner of the race, who I mocked due to his silly outfit finished in 16 MINUTES! Katelyn and I decided he is a mutant and/or robot.

I came in at 33:57, giving me a 10:55 mile which is a vast improvement over my last few attempts! So I will take it and own it proudly. Here's our before shot:

And more accurately, our after shots:

This felt like a very fitting final race for the year given that there was a post race brunch at the original Cheers in Beacon Hill. So after taking the wrong cross bridge, we waltzed over to Cheers and enjoyed a mimosa and a complimentary Sam Adams:

I'd say that's a very fitting ending to a long, sometimes arduous but mostly rewarding year long journey.

It's been a fun, tiring and crazy experience.

A friend recently asked me how I felt about being done with this "project" and to be honest I wasn't sure how to answer. After taking some time to think on it, I am both sad and relieved about it coming to a close.

Back in January 2011 the wound was still really raw and the space in my life left by my Grandpa's passing, a man I loved more than I'm able to explain, had me feeling more than a bit empty. Fundraising is something that fulfills me in a way that my career does not and so at that time I decided that would be just the thing to fill that empty space. The running was a way to pay homage to a disease that basically renders its sufferers immobile and unable to control their own body. I personally can admit I take for granted all that I am able to do on a daily basis and watching my Grandfather's decline made me realize how quickly that can change in the blink of a diagnosis. And so Hudson's Hoofer(s) was born. This was my way to channel my grief into something positive, to improve my own health and also to raise funds for the ALS Association to improve the lives of ALS patients and their caregivers; and all rolled in to one to honor the memory of my Bumpa.

For all these reasons I am sad to be finished because this process has helped me feel closer to my grandfather, or if that description is confusing, its lessened the pain of him being gone because I continued to think of him, remember him and "be" with him at least once a month, and more often than not, more frequently than that. This is sort of a closing to a chapter and brings finality in the process of letting him go. Luckily in the course of this year I have discovered that I am in no danger of ever forgetting him, that very small things make me remember him and that a piece of him will always be with me because I see him every day in my family and more importantly in myself and for that I can be infinitely proud.

Now to the relieved part; I am relieved to have met the $5,000 goal I set for myself because I never want to fall short of a commitment. I am relieved to have completed 12+ races this year because now when I race/run it can be for sheer pleasure and not to fill a quota for the month. And I am relieved to know that much as it sometimes felt impossible our family rallied together, grew stronger and carried each other through this first year.

2012 will bring a new baby to the Hudson family (courtesy of Scott and Mel) as well as a new member of the Hudson family (the soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Hudson) and so for every loss there is a gain, painful as those losses may be and for that I am also relieved. So for 2012 I temporarily lay down the fundraising mantle and take up the Maid of Honor mantle and am honored to be a part of ushering in a new chapter in our family's history.

Thursday marks the 1 year anniversary of Bumpa's passing and just a short week later our 2nd Christmas without him. He's missed every single day but also he's with us every single day and we're lucky to have had him in our lives, many people I know cannot say the same and for that I grateful and thankful.

I hope to continue the running even though it's clear to me after a year that I will never be one of those avid runners that yearns to complete a marathon or would rather run than plop on the couch and read a good book. I raced in a lot of great places, on a lot of great courses, contributing to alot of great causes and was joined by friends and family along the way. I enjoyed these runs and I hope to repeat alot of them in the year to come.

Now that my babbling is over, I'd like to take the time to thank my Winter donators who helped me reach my goal:

the newlyweds Ashley & Denis Plourde

the other newlyweds Melinda & Joe McGann

Margot Mussler

Gretchen & Greg Towsend

Lauren Plourde (Denis's little sister)

Amanda Marth (currently serving her country and kicking ass in 7v7 coed soccer)

Katelyn Callinan

Angela Flynn & Kay Shapter - work friends of Aunt Sandy

Rachel Bloom

Grant, Emily, Cole and Owen

Shay Collins

The Future Matthew Hudson (also know as Matt Rakowski)
and last but absolutely never least, my Gram!

I'd like to thank my parents and my sisters for being my rock in all things but specifically in this thing.

And thank you to everyone that has supported me throughout the year whether it be through donating, running with me, attending a fundraiser or just cheering me on through the blog, facebook or email. I am top 5 luckiest girls around to be surrounded by such awesome and amazing people!

Don't forget the importance of continued support to the ALS Association or really to any cause that may sit near and dear to your heart.

"Always remember there is nothing worth sharing, like the love that let us share our name"

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Run Run Reindeer

Happy Monday all! This weather is unseasonal to say the least and as someone who had to run a 5K this past weekend, I am totally ok with that!

Friday night, I hosted some friends at my apartment for holiday party part 1 (part 2 is this Friday). So needless to say after some vino and a few whiskey sours Saturday morning was mildly painful. Luckily the Beverly YMCA was kind enough to schedule a 10am start instead of an 8am start so I had time to recover on the drive up haha. The girls were shocked when I got up, put running gear on and headed out the door but I told them what my mother would have told me ... if you're going to play hard, you need to work just as hard. I made the commitment and I was sticking to it!

If you haven't been, Beverly is a gorgeous little town nestled on the seaside which made for a beautiful course on what was a really beautiful morning. It was slow going at the start but I hit my stride about 1/2 way when I got the pounding in my head to sync up with the pounding on the pavement and ran the hangover off. I came in at 36:12 which gives me an 11:39 mile, slight improvement over the thanksgiving 5 miler.

Unfortunately as a product of the hangover coupled with my solo race status, no photos were taken as I had no one to take them nor the wherewith all to ask a stranger to do so. So to make it official I copied my finish timeline off cool runnings so folks don't think I'm fibbing!

376   142   Molly Hudson   36:12   11:39   56/61   F2029   28   F   Boston MA

With this race down, it leaves me just 1 to go for the year. The holiday 5K along the Esplanade followed by a breakast brunch at Cheers. I hope to get someone interested in running with me but if not I'll be there with bells on either way. I am both sad and excited to have reached my last race and to have reached my fundraising goal.

Today, on what would have been his 85th birthday, I hope he's looking down, being proud of what I've accomplished in his memory. This month is a tough one without him but I'm blessed to have been his granddaughter and I know the good weather races have to be a bit of blessing from him :)

Happy Birthday Bump, I miss you ...

And Happy 86th Birthday tomorrow Gram! 

Make sure you check in next week for an update of my final race!

Oh the weather outside is ... DELIGHTFUL!

I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing long weekend and Thanksgiving holiday. I for one, was glad to be away from work and with my family. It was a much needed multi-day respite from the grind. My asthma was in full force last week which was untimely given the amount of aerobic activity I needed to participate in.

I spent Wednesday with my nephews which coincidentally would tire out even the most athletic and mentally sound person around haha. Now that both are up on two legs its a lot to take in, so let me state first and foremost that I am impressed with my sister and brother-in-law for functioning on a daily basis haha. And that evening after a multi week hiatus from the gym and all things running (thanks alot Ireland) I hit my sister's kick boxing class which pretty much kick boxed me.

Thursday morning was an early wake up call and Em and I headed out to lovely Whitinsville for the Whitin 5 Mile Run. There were 700 runners and from a quick scan we decided most were pretty elite, no walkers, no strollers allowed, watch where you breathe, that sort of thing. It was a much nicer day than Thanksgiving last year which was limb destroyingly cold. It was sunshiny and nice and the race route was mildly hilly but not as bad as we initially anticipated. We got there with plenty of time to spare and snapped a few photos with the local talent:

The race started promptly at 8:10am. It was a rough go for me and my lungs so this was officially my worst time of the year at a 12:12 mile I finished around 1 hour and 1 minute. Emily however did really well and finished 24th out of 70 runners in her age group which is pretty stellar. I think I finished 62 out of 63 or some awesome stat like that.

Cousin Jeff and his boys came to race but were sadly turned down because of the stroller situation ... lame Whitinsville, running should be for everyone! However the boys stayed and cheered us through the finish line and we snapped some post race photos with the Harris gents:

Let me also take this moment to inform the masses that I have officially reached my goal of $5,000 raised!

WE DID IT! With 2 races and 1 month left in the year I've reached my goal and it's due entirely to all the wonderful friends and family I have had supporting me this year!

I think this picture sums up how I feel about achieveing that goal ...

This Saturday will be the 5K Reindeer Run in Beverly, MA. So make sure to keep reading and following along, there will be lots of updates in the month of December.

Devil went down to Georgia ... because Salem was WAY TOO COLD!

Happy Halloween ya'll!

Hope everyone had a fun weekend amidst the SNOW and POWER OUTTAGES ... in OCTOBER. I'm really not sure why I still live here, its pretty unreasonable even for New England.

I should have known angry snow was coming because Friday morning at 6am it was COOOOOLD. And by the time the sun came out and I got to Salem, it was even COOOOLDER. That being said we 1500 devil's chase participants didn't let it stop us. People were out full force in costume which was good since I was decked out. Since I was a lone wolf for this one I only got one photo thanks to a lovely fallen angel runner ...

Yes, I ran in the cape and yes I held the stupid pitchfork the entire time ... and no I do not enjoy running in a costume for 6.66 miles haha.

I finished in 1 hour, 17 minutes and 59 seconds which puts me at an 11:43 mile. Pretty similar to my 6.2 miler the previous week. Two things I realized while doing this race ... people that do marathons and even 1/2 marathons need to have their heads checked and also people who run in the winter should see the same head checkers as their marathon/half marathon friends.

After the race I headed to Worcester for Lauren's dress fitting. Wait till you see her, folks, she look stunning. And after a nice lunch with Lauren, Matt, Aunt Marsha and Gram; I headed up to North Conway for the Ghoullog where I dressed up as a roll of sushi ...

Come on you can see it! After way too many hours in the car this weekend I am happy to be out of it and happy to have a whole 4 weeks until my next race, which will be the Whitinsville 5 Miler on Thanksgiving Day with my sister Emily!

If you haven't been able to check recently I am at $4,400 raised thanks to a handful of wonderful donators this fall, leaving me $600 to go by the end of the year. With that update, today will mark the beginning of 10 x 60 in 8 which is my final fundraising push to get 60 people to donate $10 in the next 8 weeks so that I can meet my goal come New Years Day. So if you haven't already, haven't lately or are just feeling extra generous today please click the fund page link to the right and donate $10 today!

Since it snowed this weekend and apparently Fall is over I'm going ahead in thanking my end of Summer/Fall donators today for giving my efforts a HUGE push:

The Boston Strike Out ALS Crew (which was 30+ strong)

Lauren w/ her matching donation from the Puma 5 Miler

Maria Baker and Andy Magarie with post even calendar purchases

The Strike Out ALS Worcester Crew (which was 35+ strong)

Lauren w/ her matching donation from her YMCA 5K

Tom Millet

Scott & Mel (and baby Hudson to be) :)

and Dad who put down anonymous but luckily I'm admin and can see it was him again :)

Here's hoping the next 2 months can bring in $600 to complete my mission. With 3 races to go and a potential polar plunge on new years day if I meet my minimum there's still plenty to read about!

Happy Halloweeeeeeeee ....

Well folks I did it. After a 5 hour bus ride, and an hour of figuring out the train system in Manhattan and an overnight in a creepy basement room in a dodgy Brooklyn neighborhood I ran the inaugural Rock N' Roll Brooklyn 10K. And my finish time was 1 hour, 12 minutes and 32 seconds which averages an 11.6 minute mile. Pretty darn good for this less than avid runner!

I would like to point out that I did this with no iPod which will have been my first foray into musicless running. It helped that there were DJ's setup at every mile blasting excellent jams for all us runners. Since this was their inaugural there was some serious disorganization (they need an event planner's assistance ahem ahem) but all said and done it was a great race in a great location.

Prospect Park is really gorgeous and certainly HUGE. Makes Boston Common seem like a back yard. Below are some photos of the day:

This was the T-shirt line. Those two tiny white specks in the distance are where 13,000 people were supposed to pick up their race T's. Hi, race crew if you're handing out bib numbers, bags and T-shirts it would save you lots of time to put the T-shirt in the bag and slap the bib number on it so we pick it all up at once. Just saying ...

This was the finish line, people began rolling in around 25 minutes or something totally ridiculous, damn overachievers!

 I couldn't resist a shot w/ my swanky new medal in front of the swanky finish line rigging.

And a second unintentionally near an ambulance which I easily could have needed.

After a 45 minute walk back to my hotel, yes New York you are officially way to large, and a looooooong hot shower I met up with a friend in Manhattan and ate a big lunch and trolled the city taking in a gorgeous Fall day. Then after missing my 5:30PM bus, followed by missing the 6:30PM bus I forked over a large sum of money for a train ride which was quite possibly the best idea I have ever had. I slept 4 glorious hours the whole way and crashed into bed around 11:30pm.

The following morning I headed to Salem for the Witch City 5K. Following my amazingly smart idea the night before this was probably top five worst ideas I have ever had. Back to back races for the non-runner that is me, was hellacious. I was sore from the belly button down and thus this finish time was lacking as all get out. I finished at 37:50 which amounts to a 12 minute 11 second mile which is TERRIBLE even for me! That being said I survived back to back runs and I woke up and dragged ass over the finish line for both so I am proud of that!

Here's some pics from the Witch City 5K which ran through the heart of Salem:

This is Lauren and I freezing out tushes off at 8:30am, the shadow monster is Bert who came out as my chauffeur instead of co-runner due to some alcohol problems the night before :)

Random shot of the costumes ... which we lamely did not participate in.

Some punk rock broads ...

Pac-Man ... excellent

Lauren whipping across the finish line, as her birthday present I let her beat me in this race (HAHA)

And slowly rolling in to your far left in electric pink would be me ... emphasis on the slowly

And a shot of me dying ...

All in all it was a successful weekend! Coming up this Saturday is the Devil's Chase 6.66 Miler in back in Salem. Following that I'll be headed to Worcester for the Team 9/22/12 dress fitting with my Lo-Lo beans and then off to NH for my inaugural Ghoullog experience on Cranmore Mountain .. bring it ghosties! That will conclude my October races.  

October 31st will also begin the 10 x 80 in 8. What is that you may ask? Well I have $800 left to raise. I need 80 ppl to donate $10 each in order to reach my goal by December 31st and I am instituting 10 x 80 in 8 to make it happen on time for the year! I have over 600 facebook friends, loads of awesome family and tons of randos that can all spare $10 for ALS so expect to be hunted come 10/31!

I am still looking for a November race, if you know of any Worcester local T-Giving Day races please let me know, Em and I are desperately seeking one.

And December launches the final month of my year long quest to raise $5,000 for ALS and run 1 5K a month for the year in memory and in honor of Grandpa Hudson. This will be a big month so expect big things in the blog, keep an eye out for emails, fundraising updates, blog updates, and the final countdown ... yah Ash, this time it's happening!

As always thank you for reading and keep following, you only have 2.5 more months to have to listen to me ramble on and on so suck it up and thank you!