Almost Time... and what about the weather???:

Okay, everyone! Thanks for all your help! We are just about ready for race day after picking up our registrations and have the following news for tracking on race day:

Race Day: We will be running the Boston Marathon on April 16th, 2007. We are in the 2nd wave of runners, officially starting at 10:30 a.m., although it takes some time to actually get to and cross the starting line! We will have timing devices on our shoes, and you will be able to see where we are by going to http://www.baa.org/. The face of this site will change on race day, and you will be able to look us up by number and name:

Timothy Horn: Bib number 20936
Marie Fukuda: Bib number 20922

During the race, our good friend Bert Antonio will have my cell phone and will be viewing 5k splits up until we are close to the finish. You can reach him for updates at (617)347-2037 (cell) or (617)859-3646- please do so if you are considering coming out, so that you are not waiting forever!

Our dear friends Bob Roppolo and Christine Lynn will be dropping us off in Hopkinton in the morning, and Jacques Chanier will be meeting us at mile 15 at the Wellesley Community Center.

If we are vertical that evening, we plan on a pizza celebration at Woody's. If anyone would like to join us, please send your phone number and we'll call you with the plan.

Goals: Well, we had hoped to have a sub-4 time this year, but it seems that we may have some additional challenges. The weather forecast includes the possibility of strong winds and heavy rain, which will make this a memorable race! If we run in good time, we will be happy, but if not, we will finish. My post about preparation will now be supplemented with garbage bags for feet, extra clothing for the start, umbrellas and rain poncho, extra shoes and socks for the start, a dropped change of shoes/socks for emergency halfway through, and a bag of dry clothes to drop off at the finish. :)

We had a great 6 months training with our Team, and have now raised over 13,000 dollars with the help of all of you- money that goes towards the Society's goals to cure blood cancers and to care for patients and their families. We are dedicating this run to two wonderful and brave people who are no longer with us, and in hopes that one day there will be a cure for these diseases.

We are so grateful for the support of everyone out there and look forward to celebrating another year with the Team. All the best, Marie

LAST TEAM TRAINING AND TAPER WEEK!: Hi Everyone! We are officially finished with our Team training and are in full taper mode this week as we prepare for the marathon. Here's pic of our race day shirts from our 20 miler. The back of mine will have ribbons with your names- as soon as I sew them on!


As many of you know, tapering is a traditional part of race preparation. Giving the body enough training, and then enough rest can maximize performance on race day by giving the body the training it needs and then time to recover and replenish. It sounds nice, but it can be difficult for runners who have gotten used to the training schedule. It can also be difficult mentally, as one starts to wonder if they will remember how to run or whether they will lose skill from a week of rest.

This is when the mental part of training has to overcome the body's messages. Instead of training on the road, you can use this time to start preparing mentally, getting organized for the race and in using focus to prepare the brain for what lies ahead. Good tips include visualization- taking some time every day to picture yourself on the course and how you will be handling different sections of the race, meditation and breathing, and preparing for the logistics of the race before race day arrives. Knowing that you have everything in order gives peace of mind, especially the couple of days before the race! It is also a good week to schedule some gentle massage. :) And maybe one after the race!

Here is a tip sheet for what to think of to bring to any race:

• Your running clothes and race numbers: Make sure to pin this to your singlet before race day and try it out by swinging the arms around! It will help avoid problems in having to repin once you are in the race! If you are not sure of the weather, bring a change of clothes, one for each possibility.


• If the weather is chilly, a garbage bag or throwaway sweatshirt/pants for prerace. The Boston Marathon is great in that charities collect this prerace gear as you come through the runners corrals. If you use the garbage bag, you can punch out holes for the arms after using the same bag as a seating tarp for pre-race waits.


• Money and essentials: It is good to know that you have that extra little bit in case you fall into an emergency and are in between aid stations! For extra essentials, dont forget: anti-chafing lubricants, bandaids, any medications you need, sunscreen,sunglasses (if needed), gels or carb supplements, liquids and pre-race food.

Luckily, we are having fun thinking about race day, what the run will mean for us and for the people we are running for, and about the people who have been so supportive to us so far. We are excited to be joined again by Jacques Chanier at the 15 mile mark, and will look forward to seeing friends on the course. I will make one more post about race day and tracking. Thanks to everyone for all you've done- buying coffee, donating, attending our party, writing your encouragement and cheering for us through this training season. Thanks for helping us to continue raising money to further cancer research and to care for people who are going through these diseases. Best, Marie

Fundraising Party!: Well, I am now officially getting behind in my blogging, so will do a few posts this week. We had a very nice fundraising party, thanks to everyone who pitched in and attended on March 29th!

We raised around $2,400 dollars between the two of us, and have now officially met our fundraising goals to raise $6,000 dollars each. The actual goal of our Team is 1 million dollars, and we are probably about 200,000 short, but hope that additional fundraising efforts will help to bridge the gap!:)

Bob Roppolo was very generous to attend our next to last training session and share a memory of John and to make a dedication in front of our Team. We are very inspired to run this race in John's memory and will do our best next Monday!

Thanks again to everyone who contributed and attended our fundraiser. I would especially like to thank a few people:

• the artists who donated works for our silent auction, Yuko Adachi, Bert Antonio, and Peter Arvidson.
• Jon Fukuda and Luc Kress for their help with the technical stuff and to Luc for the door prize!
• Steve Short of Central Reservations of New England- The hotel stays were a big draw and thanks so much for helping us to acquire them!