Blessed

I feel really blessed.

When I started this triathlon, I had lots of thoughts. I was mostly excited - about helping a great cause, about becoming a triathlete, about meeting new friends. But I was also pretty scared. My fundraising minimum was daunting - $2,900 is a lot of money. My mind works in logical terms, so I started subtracting what I though my close friends and family would donate. After a conservative few calculations, I realized I would be quite short of my goal.

I figured I would make it there somehow. With some creative fundraising tactics and social media efforts, I would get there. Even if it meant fronting a fair amount of the money myself.

Then I sent out my first email to close friends and family. I tried to be as real and honest as I could, and hope for the best. And the donations started rolling in. And in. My fave people were so much more generous than I expected, and they started forwarding it to their friends. People I have never met donated. I was astonished, delighted and humbled.

MANY THANKS! Amazing card I found at Paper Source
I'm using to write my thank you notes on.

I'm now only $800 away from my fundraising minimum, and I have every intention of exceeding it.

The physical part of my training is going really well. I think I'm finally healed from my ridiculous IT band injury, thanks in major part to Dr. Levine. I've been foam rolling, icing and stretching like it's going out of style.

Oh beautiful sidewalk, how I missed you.

I've also been very diligent about going to swim practice. Every Monday night I make my way to our group training session in downtown Brooklyn, trying to think of all the things NOT to screw up in my stroke. This includes keeping my head low, staring straight down at the pool, breathing in the right part of my stroke, not lifting my head up too much when I breathe, kicking without flailing my legs too much... the list actually goes on.

But at least I feel myself improving. While I go to the intermediate/advanced session, I firmly plant myself in the "slow" lane. We had our first "continuous swim" last week, where we snaked around the pool for twenty minutes without stopping... TWENTY MINUTES IS A LONG TIME TO SWIM. Not to mention that it was meant to simulate race day, so we were mixed in with all the advanced swimmers who were trying to pass me. I like my slow lane. The people in the fast lane are really fast, and they're really excited about being fast. I am slow, and I am perfectly okay with that.

The continuous swim was a bit of a wake-up call. I realized that while I've been diligent about going to the group training, I haven't been that diligent about doing a swim training on my own. So I'm making it my mission to fit in an extra swim session every week so that by the time July hits, I'll be ready for the Hudson.

On the topic of this week's post, I just want to say how blessed I feel that all of my friends in Boston are O.K. Keith and I were in Boston last weekend, visiting our friends, and headed home to NYC on Sunday night. I stayed with my friend Jaime, who's apartment is a block from where one of the bombs went off (luckily, she left for home Sunday as well, and wasn't in the city on Monday). While all my loved ones weren't near the bombs, if different decisions were made, one of them could have been.

My friend Anna and me last summer, ready for a run in Boston.

I have such a big place in my heart for Boston. It's where I went to college, it's where I met so many great friends, it's where I met Keith, and it's where I have some of my best memories from days like Marathon Monday.

Marathon Monday Senior Year.

I'm sending my prayers and thoughts to everyone in Boston, especially those who were affected by Monday's horrific events. Boston and runners, you are two resilient communities, and I know that with some time, the wounds will heal. We just have to take it one day at a time.

**Edit on 4/19: Sending my hugs to Boston this morning - everyone be safe!

Tomatoes and Real Life

Disclaimer: I am not going to talk about running in this post outside of this paragraph. I am taking this week off from running to give my body a break, and I am thinking happy, healthy thoughts. So on to real life things!

Last weekend (I know it’s almost already a new weekend, but it was a good weekend and I have lots of fun photos of it so just go with it), I went home for my cousin’s wedding reception. As I was packing and getting ready to hit the road Friday evening, I noticed something that made me jump for joy.

You are so little and green and cute.

My tomato plant is actually growing tomatoes!!!!

I’ve begun to think I am cursed with a “black” thumb. Keith gave me an aloe plant for Christmas, which died within about two weeks. And my dad gave me a flower plot, which almost grew, but never produced any flowers.

So when I got a tomato plant earlier this summer, I made it my mission to turn my black thumb green. I urge them every day to grow faster so I can eat them.

We headed to beautiful New Jersey, and enjoyed all the amenities that going home brings.

Grass! Trees! Clean air!

Yummy Treats!

Saturday was spent going to J.Crew to get my fill on outlet store prices, followed by a lobster lunch that I did not partake in. I just can’t handle eating something that was crawling in my parents sink a moment before. So I ate a hot dog instead.

Papa Wyman is too cute.

As we were getting ready for the wedding reception, I was trying to convince myself that I could in fact make it look like I had just been to the hair salon. But after one beer and many bobby pins, camera-ready I was not.

I brought in my personal hair wiz, Kelly, to see if she could do what I was picturing in my head. In about 30 seconds, she put a gorgeous braid in my hair and tied it back into a bun. I went from hot mess to bunhead in an instant.

Hair Stylist Extraordinaire.

The wedding reception was at Triumph Brewery in New Hope, PA – perfect for a bunch of Irish folks like us. We drank yummy beers, caught up with some cousins, and threw in a couple dance moves when the mood was right. There also may or may not have been a Taco Bell pit stop on the way home…

I woke up on Sunday morning to the smell of bacon cooking. Since I won’t be home on my actual birthday, we had a mini early celebration. Birthday brunches are a serious business in the Wyman house, so I requested my favorite selection of mimosas, bacon, pancakes, and omelets.

Note the birthday tablecloth!

It was a relaxing break from the city heat, and I got plenty of face time with my awesome fam.

This evening, I’m off to my beloved Boston for the weekend! I will probably still have the same big smile on my face when I get home Sunday night.