Luck of the Irish

Well, with Grampa's guidance, a little push from the people at Magner's and a hearty Grant Pattee breakfast I clocked in at  31:09 yesterday morning .... 31:09!!!! That's a 2 minute and 17 second difference and that's with the worst hill course I have seen to date. Could not be more pumped about that time!

We started off the day with a lovely breakfast, probably not the wisest choice for a pre-run meal however we needed some absorption for the night before's liquid meals :) It looked a little like this:

And we washed it down with a little of this:

We walked over early to check-in. I was number 36, the rest of the clan was in the 700's and 1600's in Carrie's case. The weather could not have been more ideal, it was cool in the shade with just a slight breeze and sunny all along the way. We took some pre-race stretching photos as follows for your entertainment pleasure hehe:

The race kicked off promptly at 11am, we ran up Dorchester to meet Broadway. Proceeded down Broadway to the Farragut Statue, wrapped around that and ran back up Broadway to the cheers of now thronging crowds getting their seat for the parade at 1pm. We ran down and turned on one of the West siders and wrapped around to West 6th where the finish line was. What isn't mentioned in this description of the 4 MENACING and HORRIFYING hills involved in this course. They tested the old lungs for sure and as I approached the finish line I squinted in the sun to see how far behind my goal of beating 33:26 I was and to my utmost surprise the clock read 32 minutes, that gave me the push I needed to sprint full speed down the rest of the straightaway to cross at 32:46, AND then as if it could get any better we checked our chip times (because in the crowd of 1,900 people your gun time is different than your chip time, so I looked down the list and there was my name next to 31:09 .... 31:09, this must be wrong. BUT I'M TAKING IT!

Here's a couple of our victory post race photos:

Suffice it to say, I'm coming for you in April, 30 minute 5K ... watch out!

Thanks for all the support, don't forget to donate to the fund this month! 

Check back soon for fundraising and training progress and come out and join me for a run this year!

SLAINTE!

Tomorrow the March 5K is upon us! The weather is looking great, sunny w/ high of 50, perfect running temp! Anything would beat the pouring rain and 28 degree weather of last year but this is pretty ideal :)

Emily, Carrie and Grant are on their way to Boston, they decided to join me on this run and to participate in the pre and post festivities that Southie has to offer during their favorite weekend of the year. Looking forward to having the company this go round, I'll need the added support as I mount the Broadway hill two times tomorrow morning haha eeeek!

This month's playlist is super, super awesome, its def my favorite thus far, if these tunes dont get my legs moving not much will. So steal it and jam along with the Hudson Clan tomorrow at 11am as we mount the streets of Southie.

The Warrior's Code - Dropkick Murphy's

Captain Kelly's Kitchen - Dropkick Murphy's

Shipping up to Boston - Dropkick Murphy's

Kiss My Irish Ass - Flogging Molly

Seven Deadly Sins - Flogging Molly

Irish Drinking Song - Flogging Molly

Beer, Beer, Beer - The Pogues

Toke - The Pogues

Hay Wrap - The Saw Doctors

I Useta Love Her - Saw Doctors

Michael D. Rocking in the Dail - The Saw Doctors

Bless Me Father - The Saw Doctors

Macnas Parade - The saw Doctors

Galway Girl - Steve Earle

Check back tomorrow for pre and post photos of the Hudson's and to see if, by some miracle of a chance I beat my Feb time of 33:26 ... wish me luck and Happy St. Patrick's Weekend!

SLAINTE!

Top 'o the Month to ya

This just in: April and May races have been chosen, feel free to sign up and join me on a run this spring!

April Race will be Saturday, April 23rd at the Goaddard Memorial State Park on Ives Rd. in Warwick, RI for the Scott Carlson Memorial ALS 5K. Race starts at 10am. $27 online entry fee. All proceeds are donated to the ALS Association, Rhode Island Chapter. You can sign up at http://www.teamals.org/

I got a little ambitious for May, I plan to run the 10th Annual Boston Marine Corps Honor Run in South Boston on Saturday the 7th, starting at Carson Beach at 10am. $26 online entry fee.  Proceeds of the run benefit children of Marines and Law Enforcement Officers killed in the line of duty. You can register online at http://www.mchonorrun.com/

And then, because I have always wanted to do it, because it supports ALS (how fitting) and because I'd like to think that after 4.5 months of them I could complete 5 miles; I will be running the Harpoon 5 Miler benefitting the Angel Fund for ALS on Sunday the 22nd of May. Online registration is not yet open but you can register to receive email updates from Harpoon Brewery on their website.

Check back at the end of the week for this Sunday's South Boston St. Patrick's Weekend 5K playlist and then check back again the following week to see if I beat my time of 33:26 from the February race, to see photos of Emily, Grant, Carrie and I pre and post race and maybe some parade photos thrown in as well. This course has a few hills so I have my work cut out for me for sure!

Thanks for perusing!

Fundraising Update

Happy March to you!

Training went well last week which I hope to continue with this week! I attended a fighter conditioning class at Peter Welch's Boxing gym and it kicked my a$$! I could definitely fall in love with doing that class. So much so that Ash and I bought a package of 5 classes for $25 to continue the good work!

Training will continue this week and next with  the March run culminating on the 20th with the South Boston 5K with my sister, brother in law and a couple hundred other people looking to off-set their beer consumption this month.

I wanted to send a huge shout out and thank you to my Winter 2011 donators who have to date helped me to raise just over $500 with 10 more months to go! If I can raise at a rate of $500 per month I will have reached my goal by December and with the fundrasiers and calendar I should have no problem hitting that stride. So big thank you to the following folks for helping beat ALS:
Tom and Marsha

Ash

Chuck & Sandy

Melanie

Tommy and Krissy

Ashley and Dig

Richard, Jr. and Anne

Mike, Kellye, Charlie & Chase

Check in next week for a training update,  the March race playlist which is certain to be replete with tons of kicka$$ Irish jams from my favorite boys the Saw Docs and a few appearances by Flogging Molly! and possible announcement of the April, May, June races which are soon to be decided.

Happy March, one of the best months of the year!