Preparing for Miami

We are officially down to the last week before the Miami Marathon.  It felt like the time has just flown by this season, but with 17 weeks of training under my belt, taper week is here!  Tapering means carb-loading, which is my favorite, lots of sleep and de-stressing (yeah right).  It is also the time to get in a few short, easy runs, and to concentrate on other things like visualizing Miami's beaches and designing my singlet!

This season I decided to decorate my singlet since I couldn't really decorate my triathlon gear.  Over the course of the season, I have been touched my many people who have a connection to cancer and wanted to honor them by wearing their names on my jersey.  I spent the afternoon on Saturday decorating my singlet which I will wear during the Marathon next Sunday!

See you in Miami! :)

If you want to track me, click on this link: Track Katie

Just register and then search for me :) you can get text updates, email updates, or facebook/twitter updates on how I am doing in the race!!  

Manhattan Half Marathon

This past Saturday, January 21st, amidst blizzard conditions, a snow covered central park and freezing temperatures, my TNT participants crossed the finish line with smiles on their faces!  The Manhattan Half Marathon was my first official event with Team in Training, and I must say, it was a memorable one.  My team raised over $84,000 all going towards cancer research!  At 7am, I met my team at bag check to get them all pumped and ready to go and headed over towards a cheer station to cheer them on as they ran around Central Park!  I had ordered them medals for when they finished, so I met them all at the finish line and congratulated them! I am so proud of all that they have done- they not only completed the half marathon in the snow, but they raised money to go towards cancer research to save lives.  It was truly an inspiring day and regardless of the cold, wet, snowy weather, I absolutely love my job.

The Photo that New York Road Runners had posted on their website!!
http://nyrr.org/resources/photos/2012/manhattan_half/gallery.asp
Check it out for yourself!

Team Brooklyn!

Some of our participants and coaches

Our wonderful coaches!

Cheer station!!!

Erica and I all bundled up!!

I am so proud of them and standing out in that cold weather really gets me excited to be heading to Miami on Friday!!! Miami Marathon here I come!!! GO TEAM!!!

It's beginning to feel a lot like winter...

As the weather gets a little bit colder in NYC, it's starting to feel more and more like winter!  With only two more weeks until Christmas, I've been packing as much as possible into an already busy schedule!

This past Friday, the girls from work and I traveled up to Rockefeller Center.  This year over by the Nintendo Store and the studio for the Today Show, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has a window display set up!  Below is the picture of all of us outside of the window!  We hung out there for a little while to check it out and then grabbed some hot chocolate and yummy cookies!  It's a great way to promote our wonderful organization, so if you are in the city for the holidays, be sure to check it out!

On Sunday evening, after a weekend filled with running, fundraisers and holiday parties, 19 of us from the winter season Miami/Manhattan team went to the New York Rangers game!  They played the Florida Panthers and won 6-1! I have never been to a hockey game at Madison Square Garden so it was a great way to see a different side of New York. And since the Rangers are the only New York team I will root for, we definitely made the most of it and had a blast! The other great thing is that since we were a big group, we started off wayyyyy up in the nosebleed section with a horrible view of the ice.  One of our friends actually had a connection so we moved down to seats about 25-30 rows from the ice! It was awesome!!

Me, Erin & Erica at the game!

The view from the food balcony at the top of the garden.

Us in our new seats!!! Go Rangers!

Getting ready for the Rangers to come back on the ice

Rangers vs. Panthers

It was a great weekend!  Mom comes this upcoming weekend- you know what that means!!! Lots of pictures featuring Christmas in NYC.  Stay tuned for more fun and exciting updates!!!  Now if you don't mind, it's back to my hot chocolate (with extra marshmallows of course) and watching The Grinch!

Team in Training Update!!!

A few weeks ago, I held a fundraising event at a bar on the Upper West Side called the Gin Mill. I was able to raise some money and I was surrounded by great friends all night! Thank you to all of those who came and to those who have donated! I really appreciate all of the help and continued support!

Markian, Me & Will- North Scituate High School Reunited!

Me and my awesome roomie Arielle- so much support from you.  Whether it's waking up at 5am to watch me jump in the Hudson or whether it's drinking beer all night to save lives for cancer.  She is here through it all and I love her for it!

Me and my TNT girls! 

Me & Meagan!  Love you girl, thanks so much for coming!!!

The following weekend, the team went up to New Paltz, New York to train and bond.  We left on a Saturday morning, went running through the Shawagunk Mountains had an amazing cookout and camp fire, attended a kick-butt bootcamp and I was even able to capture some amazing photos.  The view was amazing, the weather was perfect, and it felt like we were running in a totally different world.  It was a perfect way to get to know my team, bond over the campfire, get a great workout in during long runs and boot camp and say goodbye to a beautiful fall! 

The view from our long run on Saturday

My running group on top of the world! 

Beautiful fall foliage

such a successful long run!

Was so amazing to get out of NYC and be able to have a weekend away from it all.  This is exactly what I needed.

Saturday night we had a campfire at my coach's house and we got to hang out, make s'mores and enjoy a few drinks around the fire.  Campfires are one of my favorite things, so this was definitely the highlight of the weekend for me!

Carolyn, Erica, me & Alison

Working it at boot camp!

Our awesome van crew to New Paltz.  We had such a blast- so much fun all weekend with you!!!

Our amazing team in New Paltz!

The training is going great as is the fundraising- ran a half marathon just because this past Saturday and this week I am running a turkey trot in Providence, RI while I am home for Thanksgiving! NEVER STOP RUNNING!

If you would all like to check out my fundraising page to see how I'm doing: click here!

Thank you for your constant support, your advice, your help, your donations, and your love.  You are all amazing and for that I thank you!

the seasons are changing....

The end of summer always, always brings fall... leaves change, pumpkins become the new "it" vegetable to bake with, cook with, and have fun with, apples and cider are a plenty, and the weather gets that perfect chill to it.  I wanted to recap my start of fall with you.. a lot has happened, and because I've been so busy with my new job and training, I apologize for not keeping you more up to date...

So let's start at the beginning...

Back at the end of summer, Arielle and I got tickets to go see Jimmy Fallon live in Rockefeller Center!  It was amazing- we were literally in the front row and got to see Al Roker, and Lenny Kravitz.  I even shook his hand at the end of the show when he came around to say thank you to everyone!! He is absolutely hysterical, and now I even watch his show!

I went to Fashion's Night Out again this year with a bunch of friends.  This is a picture of my friend Kevin and I drinking champagne in the Michael Kor's store on 5th Ave.  Fashion's Night Out is a great time to just go out and experience things you wouldn't necessarily experience in New York City.  I saw Kate Walsh, spotted Khris Humpries that same day, and got lots of free champagne and treats from the various stores we visited!

Arielle, her family, and I took a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge and at the end we had Sicilian Pizza at Ignazio's.  It was definitely not as good as Grimaldi's, but it was pretty delicious.  And I love the Brooklyn Bridge, so I definitely can't complain!

We had Ice Cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.  It's located directly under the Brooklyn Bridge and it is so yummy!

Coca-Cola Bottles!

The Bridge from the Brooklyn side

View of the Manhattan Bridge from downtown Brooklyn Heights/Dumbo.

Arielle and I on the bridge!

the walkway on the bridge

Brooklyn Bridge!

A few weeks later I got to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge again!  This time I did so with my good friends Kate & Michaela and their family!  We did a 3 mile walk for the National Eating Disorder Association to raise awareness for these terrible diseases.

Team Michaela's Sidekicks!

Leave it to us to start a kick-line at the end of the walk... Sinatra's New York song came on, so we kick-lined it in front of the entire crowd- Let's go Michaela's Sidekicks!

last glimpse of summer colors before the fall sets in...

The Memorial getting there!! This was taken just a couple of weeks ago and it looks amazing! I'm going to the Memorial this Saturday with my Dad so I'l be sure to post pictures from the inside!

Occupy Wall Street is in full swing as you can see... don't get me started on it....

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society hosted it's Light the Night Walk just a couple of weeks ago.  I worked the registration table checking people in, but it was a beautiful experience.  Our special events committee puts three walks on and this one is the biggest of the three. The red balloons are for those who are supporting the cause, gold is for those in honor of someone who has passed from blood cancer, and white is for those who are currently undergoing treatment or for our survivors!  The walk brought in 6,000 walkers and raised over $1.7 million!  It was an amazing night for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and our mission!

We had a yard sale at my house last weekend to raise money for my Miami Marathon!  Proud to say we raised over $600- all going to blood cancer research!  I took some pictures around the house with my new camera lens that I got from my birthday.  This is the sun on the side of our house- no it was not for sale.

Records- and The Boss!

mickey mouse tie

Mom, Dad and I went to the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular last weekend at the Roger Williams Park Zoo.  The pumpkin carvings were amazing! I loved the faces!  There were over 5,000 faces.. my only suggestion- go later when all the screaming children have gone to bed and people get less pushy!  

pumpkins- we made sure it was a very pumpkin filled weekend... pumpkin cream cheese on bagels, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkins for carving, pumpkins for seeing, pumpkins for collecting, pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins....

On Monday, Mom Dad and I stopped in at the Scituate Art Festival.  These glass blown pumpkins caught my eye...

And so did the waves...

View of the church in town from the graveyard behind it... Very old historic graveyard, very beautiful tombstones.

I was, in fact, so inspired by the Spectacular that I wanted to carve my own pumpkins.  So this weekend went like this for me- Friday I watched Hocus Pocus.  Saturday I got up and ran 6 miles with the Miami Team and then went out to brunch!  Saturday afternoon I went to the Union Square Farmer's Market where I bought my pumpkins, apples, apple cider, fresh broccoli and heirloom tomatoes.  I came home, made Broccoli Cheddar soup and had a caprese salad with my tomatoes!  Sunday morning I got up and went for a run, bought some new running sneakers (highly suggest the Nike Lunarglides), and came home to watch the Pats and carved my pumpkins.  Some weekends are just the absolute best when you have them all to yourself!

Needless to say, fall has been busy, busy already!  I'm in full swing with my new job- I'm coordinating the Manhattan Half Marathon for the winter season and running the Miami Marathon.  I'm getting to meet everyone and my co workers are just amazing people!  I absolutely have never been happier- I wake up and am so excited to get to the office, it truly doesn't even feel like work.  And I am loving training for the marathon- can't wait to run those 26.2 miles again!

In other news, this week is all training and then Dad comes to visit on Friday!  Can't wait!! I'll keep you up to date with all the fun things I have planned for the rest of October!! Enjoy the pictures!