I see it...just a small ray...but its there!

I'm getting close. I can tell. My eyes twitch from lack of sleep. Neurons won't stop firing. The printer is hating me. I am hating James, Plato, and Rousseau. Emotions are running high. I'm telling you...its getting close... da da da... the light at the end of the tunnel! I can catch just a glimpse of it on the right day!

Wow, I'm so dramatic. Really though, after tomorrow, I just have to finish a paper about the role of pre-race anxiety among marathoners and write a paper about projectile motions and magnitudes of force. Then, I'M DONE!!!!! Whew. What a semester.

Brad and I both raced the mile at the Harvard Invitational yesterday. We were both pleasantly surprised at how fast we ran given that (1) Brad isn't in mile shape and (2) I'm not in any kind of racing shape. I ran the time that I usually run at the beginning of my indoor season.

Joey, the cat, has poop stuck to his butt. He is too fat to clean himself there. I have to take him to a fancy schmancy cat salon every 6 months to maintain his gorgeousness. That is on my post-papers radar.

Luke comes into town on Friday. I'm so excited. He is staying for 1 week. We're spending the day in Manhattan on Saturday - he has never been and Brad wants to go to the Planetarium! On Sunday, I'm dragging him to the Greater Boston Track Club annual holiday party (he doesn't know this yet! Sorry Luke!). Then, during the week, we're going to hit up an African exhibit at one of Boston's finest museums, hit up a few other museums, have some delicious lunches in town, do some Christmas shopping, and just hang out all week.

Just a short update for now. Back to kinesiology!

'Twis the month before Christmas and all is crazy!

Yesterday, I went into a party store to pick up gingerbread cookies for some kids I know and the place was overwhelmingly packed. It was swarming with people. This was at 4:45 on a Saturday afternoon. People were buying Christmas cards, Christmas cakes, Christmas paper, Christmas balloons, Christmas cookies, Christmas bows, miniature Santa Clauses, Hanukkah stuff galore... It was crazy. I wanted 3 cookies. Just 3. I would have gone somewhere else once I saw how crowded the place was but this place has the best cookies in town. Good thing the kids LOVED them.

Thanksgiving was great. Brad's mom and stepdad came into town and we had a blast. I found a happy balance between sweating over my laptop and 20 gazzillion paper/projects and spending some relaxing time with the family. We put up our Christmas tree, drank egg nog and Port, and watched Christmas movies. You'd have thought we were a bunch of overgrown kids. Hmm...maybe we are...maybe we all are...

We saw a hawk suffocate a pigeon with one hand and then fly off with it in its beak. That was strange.

Brad PRed yesterday. Ran a 16:01 5k. Yay.

Pictures to come. Found my camera. Well, Brad found it.

Luke comes into town soon!!!!!!!! 2 week!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!

The warmup...

Brad (and I) are warming up for the big day on Thursday! Brad's mom and Mark are driving from Michigan to Boston to spend Thanksgiving with us. We're both really excited...this year, my mom (and Brian) and Brad's mom have been to Boston to visit and it is so great when our family comes to us!!!! Brad's already made a shopping list, a 'to do' list, and gone for his first round of food shopping!

On a separate note, I can't find my camera. It is driving me crazy because I have some great photos to post from our past couple of weeks. For Brad's birthday a couple of weeks ago, we had a small birthday get together at our place on one night and a huge blowout fancy-pants dinner at a great French restaurant the following night. I've never had such amazing food...it was the first time I'd tried caviar and, unfortunately for my bank account, I LOVED it.

Brad raced in the New England Championships cross-country meet yesterday and smashed his previous times not only at the race distance (10k) but also at the 8k mark during the race. For all you non-racers, this is a pretty incredible feat for a seasoned runner to accomplish. We're both now done with our cross-country seasons and we're really psyched for track. We began our core strength and conditioning programs today. Yippee!!!!

My brother, Mark, and his fiancee bought their first house earlier this month. I'm really excited to see it when I visit Michigan for Christmas. My brother, Luke, had his 19th birthday last week and, for his pressie, I'm taking him to an African exhibit when he comes to visit me in December. He is coming for 1 week - I'm really excited!

Okay. I promise. When I track down my camera, I'll post tons of goodies. For now, stay tuned for the next episode in the Laura-and-Brad-host-Thanksgiving-saga.

New York, New York

Last week, Brad, Emily, and I woke up at 3:50 am, piled into the green machine, and zoomed down to New York to watch the men's marathon Olympic trials. After 30 minutes of driving around the city looking for parking at 7:00 am on a Saturday, we found a broken meter, thanked zeus, grabbed a couple of extra hot lattes, and headed toward Central Park where the race was held.

We managed to see the guys 11 or 12 times on the course, it was really spectator friendly - hoards of us were running back and forth across the park to watch the runners as many times as we could! The race unfolded in spectacular fashion and most of our friends ran really well. I'll add a couple of pictures soon.

Toward the end of the race, Emily heard from her brother that Shay had died on the course. Cause of death: unknown. We were shocked. The emotional high that soared through the park fizzled away over the next few minutes as Emily's brother tried to find out more information for us. Even now, the running community is totally shocked and devastated.

On a lighter note, after we left the park, we grabbed a great quick lunch (roast beef sandwich for Brad, veggie panini for me), met up with another friend, and headed to a gigantic Barnes and Noble to hide from the cold as we killed a few hours before our own race in the Bronx.

Our own race was cold, hilly, and loads of fun! We met up with about 15 of our teammates and we all seemed happy with our races. Cold and sore, Brad, Emily, and I hopped back in the car immediately following our cool down jog and drove back to Boston. We dropped Emily off at about 8 pm, grabbed thai food, took showers, and were in bed by 10 pm. What an awesome day.

Mayor's Cup on very little sleep

On Sunday morning, after nights and nights of very little sleep, I sleepily rolled out of bed and into the car for our annual Mayor's Cup race. Mayor's Cup is one of the most significant cross country races in Boston. The men run an 8K and the women run a 5K. Brad's goal was to set a personal record, and, in typical superstar fashion, he set a personal record by about 30 seconds. He ran amazingly. I ran a little less amazingly but better than my last performance so I can't really complain. I am really excited for indoor track so my ego can stop taking a beating. Here is a picture making me look much faster than I actual am!

Kraziness in Kentucky!

I spent the latter part of last week at the Association for Applied Sport Psychology annual conference in Louisville, Kentucky. It was absolutely overwhelming in a great way! Imagine 10-14 hours each day of information overload of so much good junk in the world that is important to you... that is what I experienced from Thursday to Saturday. I attended lectures, workshops, colloquiums, and poster sessions on everything from coaching to athlete preparedness to meditation to neuropsychological effects of sport on relationships to mindfulness to race and ethnicity in sport... I can go on and on! The point is..I had a great time learning, networking, seeing old friends, making new friends, etc...

I took my camera on my runs to try to document some of the Louisville beauty but I couldn't really find much to capture - not to say that it wasn't unique - I just didn't feel too inspired when I was running there. I ran past the Muhammad Ali Center, along the Ohio river, past the Slugger Museum, through neighborhoods, across bridges...

I also met a man who works with team athletes at the Olympic training center in Colorado. His job sounded so awesome... there is so much to learn and so many cool ways to apply Sport Psychology to the world!

Assortment of goodies...

These are just a couple of pictures from one of our most recent cross country races...

In other news, there is a giant spider camped out in one of our windows. She has been there for 3 weeks. At first, I didn't want to bother her because, well, she looked like just a harmless little gal. Now, she has woven a web that covers our entire window (which is pretty big) AND I think she is pregnant. I definitely do not want a bunch of city spiders crawling around my home. Brad thinks I'm being illogical: "How can a spider get from OUTSIDE our window to INSIDE our home?" I think he is being naive. I found a spider crawling on my printer today when I was picking up a document. So, what do I do: I throw the document and kick the printer off the stand. The cats freak out and take cover under the coffee table. Meanwhile, my toe is throbbing, I spill my cup of tea, AND the spider is still crawling around our study. This happened at about 9 am. I still haven't gone into the study - it is now 11:40 pm. I'm fully aware, however, that the spider can indeed crawl from the study to any other room in our condo. In fact, if it just stretched its legs, it could probably touch two opposite ends of our little home. I know, I know...my brilliance and logic is dazzling. Plato, watch out buddy!

Saturday night was a hoot. A bunch of us went to a local bar to watch the Red Sox and get our dancing fix. The game lasted so long, though, that we ended up leaving at the bottom of the 9th and didn't dance a step. Well, Brad and I didn't dance...Rod, however, didn't let a room full of Red Sox fans watching big screen TVs stop him. He cleared a space in the bar (standing room only at this point) and busted out with some Jackson/JT/Busta moves interspersed with some Hemingway originals. I'll post a couple of pictures once I upload them to the computer. Sadly, I don't have any of The Rod Exhibit but if any readers have any, please let me know.

Racing weekend...as usual!

So, as usual, our weekend was dominated by races! Brad ran a cross country race yesterday and raced incredibly well! He was first for our team, ran sub-17 on an XC 5K course (significantly more difficult than doing this on a track), and beat most of the runners with whom he usually competes. Kudos to Brad.

I, on the other hand, had a very average race. No need to relive it - but you can find the juicy details on our Boston Running Gals blogspot site which you can access on the bottom right of this blog page. My entry is titled "What a weekend!" I've attached a picture from the event (photo by Alison Wade at www.eliterunning.com). It is of the first seconds of the 7000 women race! Impressive! Thats not all...this is also the USA National 10K road race championships so it is comprised of almost all of America's fastest 10K road racers. Deena Kastor, the bronze medalist in the Athen's Olympic Marathon, won the race today...followed by an old U of M teammate of mine, Katie McGregor.

Besides the races, we have had a pretty low-key weekend. We had a date night on Friday. I took Brad to a great Tapas restaurant downtown and got him a little drunk. He would have been fine but I kept on giving him my drinks to finish!

That is about it for now...I'm making Spotted Dick and the water just boiled...

Honey Crisp Apples

These apples are the best! Katie, Mike, Brad, and I went to a farm last weekend where we picked up a pumpkin, some delicious apples, and a few other goodies. Now, I'm very loyal to my granny smiths, unyieldingly loyal, one might say. When I tried the farm's honey crisp apples, I almost (almost) elevated them to #1 apple status in my eyes. It was a moment to remember. Since then, I've had my usual amount of apples (about 2 granny smiths per day) and, upsettingly, I've yet to eat one that is better than Sunday's honey crisp. For all you granny smiths reading our blog, "you've got to get on the ball. You're tasty, sure, but you need that added freshness and crispness of the honey apples." Perhaps I'm blaming the victim in this case - perhaps its not the fault of the granny smiths as much as it is the fault of the stores selling the apples. Maybe I'll hit up a farm this weekend and look for my beloved grannys there.

Brad helped organize the Topsfield XC race this past Sunday. Coach Tom played his harmonica. The picture of Brad is from this race (photo by Bruce Davie). I didn't race it because the course was so rocky that my very wise coach told me to stay off it lest I choose to have another sprained ankle. Smart advice - I jogged the course with Josh a few times at the beginning of the day and I had to stop my ankle from rolling a few times. So, instead of racing, I locked myself up in Brad's car with a laptop, printer, and a bunch of cords. Brad had rigged the car into a portable office so that I (with a couple others) could compile the race results, figure out the team scoring, and print it all off from inside the car in the parking lot of a gigantic park. Pretty incredible.

I'm working with a researcher who is very well known in psychology for her work on multiple intelligences. Her work stems from Gardner's 9 types of intelligence theory and she is knocking my socks off. I'm really excited to be working with her since I am learning incredible psychology every day I'm with her, but I'm also realizing how much there is to know and how little of this knowledge I really have. It is very humbling.

What a great weekend!

My mom and Brian came to visit this weekend. It was a whirlwind trip - they arrived after our Cross Country race on Saturday afternoon and left early this morning. In that time, we walked around Brookline, watched countless episodes of The Office, caught up on all the gossip, spent the morning at the beach, walked about 10-12 miles, ate fabulous meals, and managed a quick cat nap during the day on Sunday. These pics are from our time together - it was a blast!

I learned how to video conference with my brother, Luke. It was amazing - I was talking to him, writing to him, and looking at him all at once - he was even playing xbox while we were doing this... I can't believe technology!

Martha's Vineyard

In a desperate attempt to hold on to any last reminders of summer, I've attached some pictures from our August day trip to Martha's Vineyard. Rod took care of this little butterfly - it had a broken leg and damaged wing - by "taking care of it", I mean he walked with it on his finger for about a mile and then found a nice bright flower on which the butterfly could slowly die...

The other pictures are of Kit and me on the ferry from the Cape to the Vineyard, Katie and me at the beach, and Rod and me at the Vineyard. Brad was there - he escaped all picture taking though!

Thats what she said!

Likely the most frequently heard 4 words of the weekend! Our friends have "The Office" fever right now... well, I do too... we just finished watching Season 3 and we can't wait for the Season 4 premier on September 27th!

On Friday & Saturday, Brad ran Reach the Beach, a 200 mile 12 leg relay starting in Bretton Woods and ending in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. He ran it with a bunch of Brookline High School teachers and had a blast. When he came back to Boston on Saturday night, he was smelly, hairy, and sleep deprived. Awesome.

We went over to Katie's place on Saturday night and played The New Yorker Cartoon Caption board game. As a connoisseur of board games, I would rank this among my top 10 favorites. Mark and Luke - we'll definitely have to add this to our holiday board games!

I'm a published writer! My article on counselors use of technology was accepted into an academic journal. Not the most prestigious journal, but it is still something. More details to come on that one!

Brad and I had a date last night. Brad picked me up with flowers (he literally left our place, bought flowers, came over, rang the doorbell, etc...) and then took me to Fugakyu, a fab sushi place around the corner. The last time we were there was when we took Brad's mom when she visited in June. It was really nice to have a date night, especially since we haven't really spent any time together over the past 2 weeks. Our schedules are not at all compatible and I'm out of the house about 13 hours each day - many of those hours being when Brad is at home!

Go Blue!

Life is getting crazy...

... no joke. It is the Tuesday of our 2nd week of craziness. Last week was Brad's first week with students and my first week back at good ol' BU! By the end of the week, both of us were ready to sleep away the weekend. But - one of Boston's premier road races was held on Saturday (www.ollieroadrace.org). It is a 5 mile road race through some of the most unattractive streets of South Boston...but, it attracts lots of the area's best runners. Our women's team ran amazingly well, winning the team event with 8 of our runners rounding out the top 20 women racers. I placed 4th for the team, which I was pretty happy with given the slow journey back into shape. I ran my slowest time EVER at this race, but I placed the highest I have EVER placed (I even won some prize money - enough to cover my registration fee and a Pumpkin Spice latte). I think the 95 degree heat and the lovely smoldering humidity contributed to the slower times. Brad ran well too - he was able to race with some guys he hasn't been fast enough to compete with until now. These pictures show how gross the weather was - Brad looks like he just took a shower and I just look plain awful (photos by Ted Tyler from www.coolrunning.com).

Besides that, all is the same in the world. We've been spending our free time watching The Office: Season 3, which is incredibly more painful than its previous 2 seasons. It is pouring down outside and I'm trying to decide between reading about Qualitative Research or Plato's Republic... I wish Harry Potter was an option...

Luke's Lloyd

Oh no! Little Lloyd, my brother Luke's cat, is at the emergency vet now. He had a blockage that was disallowing him to pee. It was so severe that if my mom hadn't taken him to the emergency vet this morning, he would have likely died by the end of the day. He just underwent surgery and is expected to make a full recovery. The top picture is of Luke's cat, Lloyd, and my mom's cat, Abbey. Lloyd is the sandy colored cat. He is always getting into mischief...his favorite pasttime is swatting small objects off the coffee table and hording them underneath the living room sofa. I've found chapstick, money, chocolate kisses, pencils, monopoly pieces, and loads more 'lost' goodies by reaching under the sofa.

The other 2 pictures are of my cats, Joey and Samantha. Hearing about Lloyd made me give both my cats big hugs (Joey was not happy about this), feed them each an extra Fancy Feast, and look through old pictures of them. These pictures are from last December after a Christmas party we had at our old apartment. Joey, the considerably larger one of the two, is in rare form, allowing Samantha to share his seat on the red chair. Quite unusual!

Buchholz blazin' ball game

Red Sox rookie, Clay Buchholz, pitched a no-hitter in Boston last night... The Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles 10-0... It was the 17th no-hitter in Red Sox history... And Famous and I were there to watch it!!!!

Kettle corn in hand, we pushed our way through the already drunk group to our grand stand seats at 7 PM for 3 hours of wicked excitement! The game was incredible. The pictures were taken throughout the game, with the last couple taken during the final inning. Nobody was sitting down. The crowd was at such a definite roar that Famous and I didn't talk the whole last inning. Our throats were scratched from screaming by 10 PM.

On the way home, Famous had to stop to buy yet another Sox shirt, this one of Mike Lowell. When I got home, I sat with Brad to look at the highlights and we came upon the player's salaries. We poked around a bit and hooked up with the NY Yankee's website where we figured out that Alex Rodriguez makes 88 cents per second of living each year. Not per second of playing or even time awake...no, simply per second of being alive. Incredible.

Besides enjoying the game, we've had a great weekend so far. A good friend, John, is in town from Vermont where he is in medical school, so we had sushi with him on Friday night and watched "Goal! The Dream Begins", a marginally entertaining movie with incredible soccer scenes. After a 14 mile run on Saturday morning with a few friends, Famous and I visited the local bakery to pick up some breakfast while Brad and John made eggs and bacon at home. The 4 of us enjoyed a peaceful long breakfast until about noon.

Our lives become pretty busy again this upcoming week. I start classes and Brad starts teaching. No more leisurely beach or park days reading book after book. Cross Country season picks up in the next couple of weeks so we'll be running a lot more races than we've run over the summer! Ah well... the summer had to end sometime! I'm really excited to get back into the swing of school and I'm really REALLY excited that my BU gym membership begins on Tuesday so I can start swimming and lifting a lot again!

All is well with Brad. He just got a new laptop and ipod last week so all his attention has been swallowed by his new gadgets. He claims he needs these for work. Hmm...

Rocks, roots, and rolls...

Brad and I raced twice over the past week. Last Wednesday, we raced the Lynn Woods Relay, a cross country race in which 4 members run 2.5 mile legs. The course starts on a flat, but juts upward about 300 yards in. Then, we climb for a bit less than a mile, hit the top of the hill, and run down it for an equal distance before we hit the parking lot. GBTC (our club) had a huge showing and almost everyone ran well. Brad and I both ran solid races. After the race, one of our teammates pulled out his grill and a bunch of meat and we spent the rest of the night grilling and chatting.

We raced again on Saturday morning out in Carlisle, Mass. The cross country course was definitely designed by runners and
for runners. It was full of rocks, roots, hills, dirt, grass, corn, you name it! This race was a bit more competitive than the Lynn Woods Relay, largely because it was part of the XC grand prix series, a group of 7 XC races with team and individual scoring. For those of you readers who know me as a runner, you are well aware that I have a reputation for fabulous displays of wicked ankle sprains. I can do them anywhere...trails, hills, even concrete. This race was no exception. I tripped over a root somewhere toward the beginning of the race in a somewhat muted style. The fall was not too dramatic; however, the ankle sprain that resulted definitely etched the fall in my mind for the next 3 miles. Then, about 1 mile before the finish, I tripped over another root as we were running downhill, flailed through the air, and barely caught the ground with my only sturdy foot. A man behind me put his arms out to lift me but I was able to regain my composure pretty quickly. At that point, I was both physically and mentally spent. I spent the last mile dragging my left leg behind me while my right quad burned with the pressure of supporting all my weight. Mentally, I tried to regroup but I had lost so much ground over the race due to my ankle that I couldn't even feel too competitive. I held myself together and even mustered a one legged kick to the finish where Brad promptly escorted me to the car, plopped a bag of ice on my ankle, and dutifully listened to my war story. Brad's race was not as eventful. He finished second for the team after going out wicked fast and slowly feeling the effects over the course. Both pictures are from Saturday's race (top picture from Jim Rhoades from www.coolrunning.com; bottom picture from Emily Raymond). Our next race - the Ollie 5 miler on September 9th. Between now and then, lots and lots o' miles!

Last night's adventure

We went to bed last night after 4 hours of "The Office" with Katie, 2 bottles of wine, and countless laughs. Visions of rainbows and butterflies danced through my dreams and the cool outside breeze ruffled our bedroom curtains. All was well. Until...

5 am. I hear a hiss, thump, and yell from the other side of the bed and feel the mattress vibrate under the moving weight of something enormous. I look over at Brad, who has his hand on the side of his face, bright red blood oozing from between his fingers onto the stark white pillowcase. He moves his hand from his face and his whole left ear and side of face is dyed crimson. Joey, our 20 pound Maine Coon cat, flies off the bed in fear as Brad and I jump out of bed and haul into the bathroom. I begin to dab Brad's face, trying to find the origin of the endless stream of blood as Brad dizzily tries to collect himself. Eventually, I find what I'm looking for...2 deep gashes cut across the side of Brad's head and 5 equally deep gashes pattern his left ear. Blood pours from each cut as I try to assess whether or not to get this guy to the hospital. Brad moves me aside, steadies himself, and checks out his ear. He continues to clean it as he tells me what happened. Joey, our lovable and somewhat stupid big cat, frequently gets into hissing arguments with the local outdoor cat that roams the neighborhood at night. Last night, the cat must have spooked Joey more than usual, causing Joey to throw his 20 pound frame and clawed paws right onto the side of Brad's head from the window sill (which sits a good 3 feet above Brad's head). His claws must have dug into Brad's ear and skull as he darted across the bed.



We decided the cuts weren't deep enough to necessitate a hospital visit (the picture doesn't really show too much), doctored them up ourselves with some good ol' Neosporin, drank a few glasses of water, changed the blood soaked pillow cases, and went back to sleep for a couple of hours. Needless to say, before I drifted back off to sleep, I closed the usually open bedroom windows and shut the blinds so that Joey couldn't see outside. Poor kitty was scared by the frenzy so much that he spent the rest of the morning under the bed. He is still there now.

AVP, BBQ, & MSU

The weekend started with a Friday night Sushi run to one of our local, favorite dining spots where I coaxed Brad into playing the 'identify the fish' game (I close my eyes, he gives me a roll, and I guess what kind of fish I'm eating). I received a perfect score - hopefully a preview into this semester's academic marks. Our fun was hampered a bit when a party of 8, including 5 loud and hungry children, noisily sat next to us. I supposed kids have to eat too.

Saturday began with a 14 mile run for me, 19 mile run for Brad, over the trails and hills of Boston. I ran with 3 training partners, 2 of whom are training for fall marathons and 1 who starts singing out of boredom about 20 minutes into each run. I reunited with the singing star later that morning as the 4 of us (Brad, Sloan:-), Drew, and I) spent the day watching an AVP professional volleyball tournament (www.avp.com). Teams of two played each other in best-of-three games, ending in the final at 4:30 where we watched Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers trounce Casey Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer (AKA - The Golden God). Drew tried his hand at winning a pair of tickets to Las Vegas in an open game but came just a little shy of his goal as his moderately drunk partner watched the volleyball hit the soft sand with an 'oops'. The first picture is of Brad contemplating the finer points of the AVP while the second picture captures the crowd favorite Jennings/Fuerbringer duo.



Sunday, my little brother, Luke, left for his first year at Michigan State University (Brad's alma mater). I thought my mom would have a really hard time with him leaving but she seemed in high spirits when I talked to her after she left his dorm yesterday. He is rooming with his best friend of 11 years so I'm not too worried about him! We ended the weekend with a vegetarian bbq on our friends, Bruce and Christy's, Cambridge private patio where we ate animal friendly grilled goods (see picture) and drank Australian red wine until the sun went down. Yet another memorable weekend in Boston.

Falmouth Road Race

Last weekend, Brad and I joined our favorite friends for a weekend of camping and racing on Massachusett's famous Cape Cod. I delivered my annual moan n' groan camping routine the Friday we left for the Cape (it should come as no surprise that I'm not a camper); however, by the time we made it to the campsite, set up, and headed out for delicious pad thai, I was thinking less and less about my sleeping accomodations and more and more about the fun weekend ahead.

After our morning run to the beach, we spent Saturday on Martha's Vineyard, walking around town, lounging on the beach, and listening to Kit relay the latin names for all sorts of creatures while Rod simply tried to save an injured butterfly. We relaxed so much that we barely had time to grab ice-cream before we had to head back to Falmouth to watch the Falmouth Mile, an elite mile race fielding some of the fastest American milers. A few hours later, full from an outstanding Italian dinner and 5 s'mores, I crawled into Brad's tent and fell asleep within seconds.

Race day began with a hurried and frenzied 15 mile per hour car trip to the buses that take us to the start of the race, followed by a runner's dream...watching dozens of elite runners warm up and stretch before the race. Falmouth Road Race is amazing - it is comprised of about 10,000 runners (one must be chosen from a lottery to race) with the top 20 or so being incredibly fast. Since we all had fast qualifying times (non-elite fast qualifying times, that is), we were chosen to start in the first corral with the hot shots.

The race was mediocre, at best, for me. I'm not in phenomenal shape right now, coming back from a bum leg that has plagued me for the past few months (since the Boston marathon), but I was able to feel a little competitive over the 7 mile coastal course. Brad ran amazingly, as evidenced in the top picture (photo by Robert Onchaga from www.coolrunning.com). Everyone else on my team, the Greater Boston Track Club, ran well, posting times consistent with their current fitness levels.

We spent the afternoon at the Bradley's house, bbqing and lounging in their backyard. By the time late afternoon rolled around, we were all sleepy, sore, and excited to get back to Boston (I was excited to get back to my own shower and a comfy bed!). The second picture (photo by Keith Bradley) is of all of us in the Bradley's front yard, about to leave the Cape to return to Boston.

Overall, a very successful weekend. Great talks, lots of laughs, good friends, fantastic food, and seashore running...life doesn't get much better!

The Boston buzz begins...

After enjoying 4 years of life in Boston, we have decided to chronicle our adventures for all our family and friends to read. Between the two of us, we have family and friends all over the globe, many with whom we keep in VERY poor contact. So, as a remedy for this, and a chance for us to flaunt our rockin' Boston lives, we've created this blog to share our wild n' crazy stories.

A quick recap (or perhaps introduction to the very long-lost relatives) of our lives...

Brad: a stunning 27 year old Biology and Chemistry teacher at the prestigious Brookline High School, Brookline, MA, enjoys long runs around the Charles River and Spanish red wines. When he isn't educating today's youth or dominating the racing scene in the New England area, he can be found spotting the trendy martini bars in Boston, reading novels in his newly acquired condo, or secretly dancing to Earth, Wind, and Fire. He comes to Boston from Michigan, where he was born, raised, and molded into a confident, competent, and somewhat sarcastic perfect specimen of a gent.

Laura: a rather opinionated and outspoken redhead, also enjoys the weekend racing scene and flashy Boston dining spots. A doctoral student in Sport Counseling Psychology at Boston University, she hopes to find a cure to the drug epidemic that has spread throughout athletics. She comes to Boston from England via Illinois and Michigan and plans to take Brad back to the home country next year to introduce him to her childhood. She and Brad have been married for 1 year, 3 months, 3 weeks, and 4 blissful days.

Well...there you have it...our lives in nutshells...visit this site for updates on our Boston happenings and, please, know you're always welcome to visit us in person, not just electronically!