Ethan and the Penguin: "Hi there, Penguin!"

Georgia Aquarium Trip

We decided to take a trip to the Georgia Aquarium when Nana and Papa were in town. We had a great time and were able to see pretty much the entire aquarium, plus the 30 minute 3D movie. The 3D movie was very neat! The kids really enjoyed it, and both kept their special glasses on the entire time! I thought for sure I'd be headed out of the theatre with Ethan crying. We were sprayed with real mist, and fish and sharks came swimming right at us. It was a "friendly," cartoonish movie, so I think that's why the kids did so well with it. Here are some pictures from the day. Enjoy!

Camping With Nana and Papa

Lauren, Ethan, and I went camping with Nana and Papa at John Tanner State Park from 5/12 to 5/15. The State Park is awesome! It's got a nice sized lake and sandy beach with a 1.1 mile paved path around the lake, two playgrounds, and a second smaller lake with a nature trail (ie, more natural dirt path). Good for taking a nice run, bike ride, or walk. We stayed in Nana and Papa's 38 ft. motor home so we can hardly call it "camping," or "roughing it." The highlights of the trip were a nice, long nature walk where we identified wildflowers, animals and fish, our first swim of the season, and roasting marshmellows at the campfire. I also had a nice seven-lap run around the lake that I thoroughly enjoyed. I should have taken advantage of the "open water" swimming to prep for my first tri, but I was too wimpy... the water was COLD!!! We all really enjoyed the trip, but camping is not easy, even with all the frills. Eric and I will try tenting with the kids very soon. We've just had a busy spring with soccer!

Gotta Run,

Caryn

Brookhaven Bolt 5K

I ran a 5K this past weekend on 5/17 down in Brookhaven just to revisit the distance. It's been since before childbirth that I've actually done a 5K, so I was interested to see how my speed is being affected by marathon training (and childbirth, motherhood, late nights, early mornings, carpooling...). I finished in 19:59, which I was pretty happy with. Not only did I (barely) break the 20 minute barrier, it was a hilly course. The race director was honest about the hills on the course description, so I knew it would be challenging. I ended up 2nd overall for women, and well, first in my age group I guess b/c the winner of the race was a 21-year-old runner with Olympic aspirations. I had fun running such a short distance. It was over so quickly! As compared to the marathon, of course. I'll be trying a "tri" (triathlon) in a few weeks and the run portion is a 5K. Some good experience gained!

Gotta Run,
Caryn

Boston Marathon Splits

For my record...

Mile 1 8:07 Mile 14 8:01
Mile 2 7:26 Mile 15 7:44
Mile 3 7:43 Mile 16 7:42
Mile 4 7:39 Mile 17 8:26
Mile 5 8:22 Mile 18 8:25
Mile 6 7:56 Mile 19 7:51
Mile 7 7:56 Mile 20 8:13
Mile 8 8:03 Mile 21 8:42 (Heartbreak Hill)
Mile 9 8:04 Mile 22 8:02
Mile 10 8:04 Mile 23 8:35
Mile 11 7:58 Mile 24 8:09
Mile 12 8:26 Mile 25, 26, 26.2 20:30 (9:31 average)
Mile 13 7:54 Finish: 3:34:03 Boston Qualifier!!!

Average Pace: 8:10

As reported from BAA:
5K 24:03
10K 48:49
15K 1:13:41
20K 1:39:21
1/2 Marathon: 1:44:26
25K 2:03:42
30K 2:29:08
35K 2:54:35
40K 3:21:27
Finish: 3:34:03

Family Member on the COVER of TIME Magazine!!!

SIX DOWN, FOUR ACROSS

My cousin's husband, Jay Adelson, is on the cover of Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People In the World. WOW! How cool! Jay, Congratulations!!! We are so proud of you. Keep up the great work. We can feel your influence all the way down here in Atlanta. :) Jay was the one who literally dropped me off at my doorstep at Stanford University for grad school. I'd never set foot on the campus before. Had only seen it in pictures. I stayed with him and Brenda the night before "school started" in San Francisco. He worked in Palo Alto at the time and drove me to my dorm. Over a decade ago...yikes!

Here's the article in Time Magazine:

Jay Adelson
By Lev Grossman


time:http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1733748_1733758_1736343,00.html

Correction Appended: May 5, 2008
For a web company, there may be no better definition of total, unconditional victory than seeing your name become a verb. So far, that club includes Google and...nobody else. But if you had to predict the next tech brand to make the leap, Digg would be a good guess.
Digg.com, which gets about 26 million visitors a month (up from 16 million this time last year), is a website where readers rank news stories and other online content according to how interesting they are. The most popular ones bubble to the top. It's the ultimate Web 2.0 take on the ultimate Web 1.0 medium: Digg not only puts readers and editors on equal footing but also puts the Wall Street Journal on equal footing with Dwight Schrute's blog on the TV show The Office.
Jay Adelson, 37, is Digg's CEO. If somebody somewhere posts "The 11 Most Unintentionally Gay Rap Lyrics Ever," and you care about unintentionally gay rap lyrics, Adelson is the guy who makes sure you see that list. For someone who runs a human-powered media website, Adelson has a seriously crunchy background: he founded Equinix, a data-center company.
So if the people choose the news, what exactly does Digg's CEO do? He manages the community, grows the business and curates the arcane algorithms that translate votes into ranking and placement. Prime placement on Digg has become so valuable, people will do anything to get it, including cheat. Adelson makes sure nothing thwarts the will of the people. Not even Dwight Schrute.
The original version of this article incorrectly stated that Digg CEO Jay Adelson also founded the company. In fact Kevin Rose is the founder of Digg.

Popsicles are the Best!

Lauren and Ethan get really silly when they have popsicles. They love to give each other licks and have a good laugh. Here they are with their popsicles. Enjoy!

Mom's Day at the Preschool

On Wednesday, May 7th, Lauren and her class had their moms come to the classroom for Mom's Day! It's a very special day at school for us. The children had made cookies and a craft for us, and I felt so special! Lauren showed me around her classroom. We played playdoh, painted at the easel, did some patterns practice, and had a nice snack. She has had a great year at The Preschool with two wonderful teachers, Ms. Carson and Ms. McCleskey. My present was a gold handpainted jewelry box with gems glued on it. Lauren had also drawn a picture of me. How sweet!

Bon Jovi Concert

On Wednesday, April 30th, 16 ladies packed into a limo in Atlanta to see the greatest rock band on earth! Oh, what a time we had! Bon Jovi put on a great show and we ladies loved every minute of it. Here are two photos of the night. I can't believe I'm embarrassing myself with this self-portrait before the show! It's all in the name of fun. :) I went with my good friend Sheri and we had a blast. I was hoarse for the next two days. Thanks for the good time, my friends!

112th Boston Marathon - Monday, April 21st

Monday morning came early. However, with the time change, at least there was daylight! We decided to leave around 6:30 am. I got up and got dressed, put the skirt on, (I ran in a Nike skirt this year!) and packed up my bag.

(Before the race at Lisa's place)

We headed to Dunkin Donuts to “fuel up.” I ordered my standard coffee and a bagel. Lis and Eric drove me down to the Boston Commons, where I was scheduled to meet my running friend Mark Earhard from Atlanta at 7:15 am. The bus area was WAY more crazy than I remember it being last year. There were runners and LONG lines everywhere. I pretty much instantly thought there was no way I was going to find Mark. Five minutes later, I saw him and Fran and we hopped in line! Now, I just love Mark and Fran. They are two of the finest people Eric and I have met through Galloway and marathon training. So meeting up with them was a real treat for me. When we got close to the busses, Fran said goodbye and Mark and I caught the bus to Hopkinton. We had great conversations along the way, which was quite relaxing and I was finally able to eat. I drank my entire medium coffee and downed one Gatorade. So far, fueling up was going well! We got off the interstate onto some other highway towards Hopkinton, and all the sudden, the never-ending line of busses stopped completely. People started jumping off the bus and peeing in the woods. I said, “wow, they must really be desperate. Jheesh.” 20 minutes later, I was desperate. 20 minutes after that, I was downright panicky. It was a white-knuckle express. I realized along the way, that very much like childbirth, there are various stages of modesty. It starts with, “I could NEVER do that,” and ends with… well, read on and see. Right when I was ready to throw modesty out the window and head to the woods, the busses started to move and I would have been left behind. So I rode the bus. And focused on breathing. And gripped the seat in front of me with my head between my arms. And didn’t say a word. Finally, finally, finally, we reached the drop-off at Athlete’s Village. I gave Mark my bag and headed straight for the woods. Nobody, not even the “Authorities” that were all over the place, were going to stop me. There was no way I was going to even make it to the porta-potties, let alone wait in that ridiculous line. As Annie says, “When ya gotta go, ya gotta go.” So I went. Not my proudest moment. That whole bus ride did take my mind off the race, though. Mark and I headed into Athlete’s Village and by the time we got there after the bus fiasco, decided to just hop into line at the porta-potties knowing we’d have to go again soon. We didn’t have much time before we had to head to the start! After taking our turns at the potty, we found a spot under a huge tent and got our race gear on. Mark wanted to potty one more time and I was ready to go, so we wished each other luck and made our separate ways. I missed my start last year and didn’t want to miss it again. I headed straight to baggage claim and handed over my bag. On my way out of Athlete’s Village, there was and adidas table with name tags for your shirt, about 4” x 8”. I wrote my name on one and plastered it across my chest. This was really going to come in handy during the race! I made my way to my starting Corral, which was #14, the first corral of Wave 2. The walk became very congested so another runner that I’d met along the way and I started running up the sides of the road and on the lawns. I got to my starting corral 2 minutes before the race began, and listened to two motivational messages from Mom. I felt really bad that I missed her calls. I didn’t have time to call her that morning, due to the white knuckle express bus ride, then the craziness of Athlete’s Village. Unlike years past, there was no sitting around on blankets all morning, due to the bus traffic issue. Most of our wait time was on the bus, and a good chunk of that time I wasn’t speaking, or should I say, wasn’t able to speak. I tucked my phone away and the gun went off. I always get teary-eyed at the start of that race. It’s such a monumentous event for me. All the training, all the prep, all my family and friends coming together for me to make this great trip happen. I settled into a good pace and started to run! What a beautiful day. The sun was shining and it was warming up. I was actually hoping for “overcast,” which the forecast called for. Sun is not a marathoner’s friend. The race course was lined with tons and tons of spectators. Miles 1-3 were fun and uneventful! Around mile 3, I heard the sound of a porta-potty door slamming, looked right, saw the green light, and decided that I might as well “go” while I can! So I took a few seconds for that. At least I was well-hydrated to start. About mile 4, every time I took in Gatorade, my stomach started cramping. It was very painful, but I convinced myself that the stomach is not attached to the legs, so why should this slow me down? The pain would slowly subside to a manageable level the farther I got from the water stops, but I knew I had to “fuel or crash,” so every water stop I took either Gatorade or water and forced it down, much to my tummy’s dismay. My pace continued to be right on for a 3:30, and my legs were feeling good. People were cheering for me all over the place, b/c I was one of the only runners wearing my name! Honestly, I heard my name thousands of times. It was awesome. I felt like a local celebrity! It was almost embarrassing, really. I made it to Wellesley and as usual, the college girls were in rare form. Their screams were deafening and I loved every minute of it. I saw some girls holding signs offering “Free Kisses.” I passed on that and kept moving. Made it to the half in 1:44, so I was happy with that! Being that it was the half-way point, and I didn’t take in any energy yet, I decided to try my Sport Beans. These are like jelly beans but packed with electrolytes and energy for endurance runs. I usually do gels on the run, but have been experimenting with these beans, and have had no issues. I could only get down half the beans over a several minute stretch and water stop. My stomach was in severe distress over anything coming in, especially solids. I kept trucking, wondering when my blood sugar would bottom out. The race course was very enjoyable this year. Every small town that we passed was loaded with spectators, both sides of the street. Everyone was out that day, it seemed. After all, it is Patriot’s Day, a state holiday in MA. Eric and I had made plans for him to join me at the 17 mile marker. The plan was to have him run with me to 22.5 miles, where Lisa lives in Cleveland Circle. I got near the 17 mile marker and it was very crowded. At some points, you couldn’t even get on the street due to the barriers that police installed. Luckily though, right at the 17, Eric was there and ready to run.

(Lots of fun happenin' at 17 miles!)

Mile 17 is around where the fun really begins, in Newton. The Hills of Newton. I wasn’t talkative (only a few words), but I’d warned him about this before the race. I let him know that I wouldn’t be talking, but to please know how much it means to me to have him there by my side. Marathoning is a head game for me. Me vs. me. It requires total focus for me to stay on task, constantly looking inward to evaluate how I feel moment to moment and how I’m handling the pace. I was all about business. Things in Newton didn’t seem too bad at first. Then we got to the hills. We actually kept a nice, pretty steady pace through the hills. Lost several seconds on the Heartbreak Hill mile, but my pace bracelet, made by Nike, accounted for that hill so I was still pretty much on target for 3:30. After the Newton Hills, my wheels started coming off. We got to BC around 21-22, and the college crowd was WILD. They were cheering us on bigtime. The guys would get going with, “CA-RYN…CA-RYN…” It was amazing and gave me just the extra oomph I needed. Of course, every few seconds, Eric was spouting out words of encouragement, which I desperately needed. We missed Lisa and our other friends in Cleveland Circle. Big Bummer. I knew they were out there, though, and could feel the vibes so we kept truckin’.

(Lance runs the marathon)

Eric decided to keep running and I was so glad because I needed him. With him there, I knew I couldn’t just give up and give into my body, whose every cell was pleading with me to STOP! Mile 23, mile 24, oh my god. I was not really feeling like the wall, just feeling like I had no energy. Not surprising given my fueling regimen/stomach issue. I HAD no fuel. I just wanted to pull over and close my eyes. Eric reminded me that “pain is temporary, pride is forever” and we forged on. He basically kind of ran in front of me the whole time, with what I felt was an invisible leash. I really wanted to be pulled along! I saw the Citgo sign. Right underneath it is “One Mile to Go.” However, you see the Citgo sign FOREVER before you get to it. I decided not to look up anymore. Didn’t want to see it until I was under it. We got to the “One Mile To Go” and I felt very relieved, and knew I could somehow get to the finish. I mean, what’s one mile? It was the longest mile. I could no longer really hold up my upper body and I felt hunched over like I should be 92, not 32. Then the turn onto Hereford. Hereford seemed to last forever. Then onto what they call “The Sweetest Left Turn in the World…” the turn onto Boylston Street for the finish! YES! There was the finish line, in all its glory. It was so incredibly far away. My eyes were closing. I wanted it to be over. I felt bad for wanting it to be over, because this was the final, home stretch of the greatest marathon in the world and I just wanted it over. The crowd was roaring and I inched my way along, only looking up a few times for fear that the distance to the finish would overwhelm me. The Finish. Finally we crossed. Stopped my watch at 3:34:03, a PR. I closed my eyes. Eric grabbed my left hand and a medical lady with blue gloves grabbed my right. We headed right into the medical tent. They said, “take her to 17.” I’d open my eyes only to check the section number. I needed to lay down. There’s 12. 17 can’t be too far away. Eyes closed again. Open them. There’s 17. There is my cot. Thank god. I’m laying down. They’re asking me questions. I just want to sleep. I know my name and I know my husband is outside the medical tent worried, but I’m too tired to get up. I closed my eyes for about 20 minutes. I was delirious, and saying to the doctor, “I feel so irresponsible. I can’t believe I did this.” I’m thinking, “What am I thinking? I have two children at home. This is stupid.” After a short while, I heard my name over the loudspeaker. Eric was worried and wanted to know how I was… I woke up, and told the medical staff to tell Eric I’m fine and I’d be out soon. I was given my medal in the medical tent, which was a downer. I reunited with Eric outside and we made our way to the baggage busses, got my stuff, and made our way to the train. Eric ended up running the last 9 miles with me, and I sure did need him there. Thanks for you support, Love.

(The night of the race in my new jacket)

The Aftermath
I felt pretty ok after we got to Lisa’s. Actually, better than I’ve felt after a lot of marathons. We showered up, watched the TiVo’ed marathon, which was an incredible finish, especially in the women’s race this year. Closest finish in marathon history! First and Second place women were 2 seconds apart. We headed out for dinner across the street at Cityside. I didn’t feel like eating anything, but Lis and Eric convinced me to eat something. I ordered fish and chips and ate almost everything! My tummy did hurt, though. My legs felt ok. My entire abdomen was in pain. I was thinking it was my ab muscles, so much for the core workouts. At times, most of the time, I felt like an 8 out of 10 on the pain scale. OK, maybe 7. When I sneezed (cat allergy), 10/10. I couldn’t sleep because the pain was so bad. When I lay on my back, the pressure of my abdomen ON my abdomen was too much. When I lay on my side, everything would slump and that hurt like crazy, too. On the plane the next morning as I sat in my seat, I realized it was not my ab muscles, but my insides. When I pushed, they hurt. They hurt everywhere, and I was instantly scared. I decided to go to urgent care that night, after trying to take a nap and again being in too much pain to really get comfortable and sleep. They drew some blood and did a urine test, and that’s about it. I was very unhappy that I’d wasted my time there. Later on, my creatinine enzyme reading was 608 and anything under 200 is considered normal. They did think the 608 was fine, though, give my effort the day before. No worries there. I then went to see my GI doctor, who was also baffled. She sent me in for an ultrasound and I’m waiting on the results. I ran the Saturday after the race, down to the lake and one lap around, just long enough to know that I wasn’t ready to run yet. By Monday I did a 6-miler and felt good. Two weeks later, my stomach does feel better. I’m finally feeling back to normal (I think). I did survive a 10 mile run on Saturday, my longest since the marathon. I’m going to hope beyond hope that this never happens again, and change a few fueling issues around before my next race.

Thank Yous
A special, special thank you goes out to my mother-in-law, Barb, who drove all the way from KY by herself and took time off from work so that Eric and I could make our journey to Boston together. She did a fantastic job with the children.

They had such a great time with Grandma, and it was priceless for Eric and I to know that they were in such good hands. We were worry-free on our kids-free weekend! Thank you Barb, we love you! Special props to Lisa, Kevin, and Jen for being so hospitable over the weekend and making our trip to Boston such a wonderful experience. Thanks to my family for your continuous support of my running, and your recognition of my need to run. Love you all!

Gotta Run,
Caryn

Boston Marathon Trip Sunday

Sunday morning, Kevin and Adam drove us (by way of Dunkin Donuts) to Lisa’s place in Cleveland Circle. We arrived at Lisa’s at 7:40 am, dropped off our luggage and stuff, and then headed with Lisa downtown. The Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials were held in Boston this year, and I wasn’t about to miss the opportunity of seeing the best women marathoners in our country pour their hearts and souls out on the marathon course for a shot at the Beijing Olympics! The top three finishers are granted Olympic spots. I was psyched to see Deena Kastor win the race with Magdelena Lewy-Boulet coming in 2nd, and Blake Russell finishing 3rd.

I also saw several of the women featured in Runner’s World Magazine and runnersworld.com. Pretty cool! We positioned ourselves on the course in such a way that we saw the women pass us 8 times. I should also mention that before the race started, I spotted Kristin Armstrong (yes, Lance’s ex) across the street from us. She periodically writes for Runner’s World, but also has a weekly blog on runnersworld.com that I read religiously. She has a way of putting into words thoughts on running and motherhood that I can seriously relate to. Check out her archives, August 12, 2007, called “Spot On, Bertha” if you want to find out why I run and part of what motivates me. Back to the race! One of the best parts was seeing the running icon Joan Benoit Samuelson run her last competitive race. She wasn’t racing to qualify, she was running her own race. She recently turned 50 years old, and wanted to run a 2:50 to celebrate 50. She did it! 2:49-something. Every time she ran past us (in her yellow Livestrong apparel), the crowd went wild for her! She definitely got the most props out there, more than Deena. It was great to see the respect that the audience had for her.

What a morning. After the race, we headed back to Lisa’s. But first, I had to buy my official 2008 Boston Marathon jacket! This year, adidas’ Boston complimentary color was red, my favorite color, so I had to have one. The jacket is black with red adidas stripes, and the Boston Marathon Logo on the front AND back. Yeah! Last year the color was orange, like the ING orange. Yuck… I scored the properly fit jacket and we went back to chill at Lisa’s. Lisa worked so hard to prepare for the 2nd Annual Boston Marathon Pasta Party at her apartment. She slaved away over two lasagnas while I sat on my tuffit like Miss Muffit resting my legs. (After all, I was standing all morning. Not good the day before a big race!) We chatted away while she cooked and (sort of) followed the recipe. Just kidding. I know you’re reading this, Lis. So this is a great opportunity for me to say, “Lisa, I love you. You are such a wonderful friend and a wonderful person. I had such a great time hanging out. It was just like old times, but even better. Eric really enjoyed everything, too. I can’t thank you enough for having me at your place and then cooking for a crowd just so I can have the opportunity to see everyone. You ROCK.” The pasta crowd came at 4:00 pm. Kara and Mike came with Maddie, Donna and Chris came with Baby Rich, Sona and Ben came with baby-on-board, (Sona looked fantastic!) Zido was there, Bets came with her hubby John, and some of Lisa’s Boston friends came.

The food was delicious and the company couldn’t be beat! Eric and I just really enjoyed the whole evening. I had such an amazing time catching up with everyone. What a GREAT group of friends. I can’t say enough good things about everyone. It really made us miss home and being around people we “grew up” with at Clarkson. If we were ever to head north, we’d only land in Boston. We will see you all next year, my friends for the 2009, 113th version of the Boston Marathon weekend!

P.S. I'm thinking about you Sona! Haven't heard anything yet, but must be any day now!

Boston Marathon Trip Saturday

On Saturday, Eric and I left the house around 8am to catch our flight to Boston! We were greeted on the other end by Kevin Frisoli, who took us downtown towards the race expo. First, we hit a spot for lunch: Whiskey’s, which was right across from the race expo.

The downtown area was packed with people out and about, as it was the “2nd” nice day in the Boston area this spring. After lunch, we hit the expo at the Hynes Convention Center. As usual, it was packed with people who were wandering in all different directions, not really knowing which way to go. I grabbed my bib number and race bag with a sweet technical running shirt, “New for 2008.” In the past, they’ve given us cotton shirts which I never wear. They actually had gender-specific shirts for running, so I grabbed my Women’s S and we were on our way into the expo rooms!

The Adidas areas in the expo were swamped, as adidas made the “official” clothing of the Boston Marathon. Couldn’t find my size in anything, they were all sold out! I also heard that Grete Waitz was signing autographs somewhere, but couldn’t find her. I searched and searched. You see, I have this great book, “26.2 Marathon Stories,” and I wanted her to sign it. She is a marathoning/running LEGEND. By the time I found the table, they’d just shut it down. I did squeak in a little chat with Jen Rhines, who will be shooting for the Olympics at the 10K distance this summer. She’s from Liverpool, NY and ran track about the same time I did in high school. We both competed in the 3,000 meter. She was always a little faster than I was. J After the expo, we went back to Kevin and Jen’s, played with Adam, then went out to a spectacularly fun dinner. It was great to see Kevin and Jen again. Some things never change. They are awesome friends and it’s like we never missed a beat, despite the fact that Eric hadn’t seen Kevin in three years!