South End Athletic Company Charity Mixer next Wednesday!

Hello Everyone!

This is Emma, I am the new Social Media and Marketing intern at CYCLE Kids from Northeastern University. I am so excited to be working with everyone from CYCLE Kids!

I wanted to let you all know that on Wednesday, January 12th South End Athletic Company will be hosting the 2nd Annual Charity Mixer for the Boston Marathon! It is 20% off OR 20% will go towards your fundraising. This is a great opportunity to meet members of different charities who will also be running the marathon. There will be free drinks and snacks, a raffle and prizes, and storewide discounts! It starts at 7 PM and at 6:30 there is an optional 4 mile run. The mixer will be held at 652 Tremont Street Boston, MA.

Rebekah will be going this year and she said its a lot of fun, email her if you would like to make plans to meet beforehand.

I am excited to meet all of you, and good luck with your training!


Emma

Happy New Year from Jim!

Hello everyone! I haven't posted in a while so I wanted to catch everyone up on what's going on in New Haven, CT! New Years day brought in the first race of the year for the Mydosh family, the Chilly Chile 5k in Orange, CT. The weather was excellent, sunny in the 40's so there was a record crowd in attendance, including three 90 year old men racing! A total of 8 members of my family participated. http://www.hitekracing.com/results11/orange0101.htm

I'm signed up for the local Boston Buildup series here, and the first is Rowayton 10k on Jan 9th. I'll end up missing one of the series races because I'll be in Hyannis with many of you, running the marathon on Feb 27th! My family will be there with me and at least one member of my running club, who is doing the half. http://www.clubct.org/Buildup/BosBuild.html

Nice 10mile training run this morning, in the misty cool fresh air. The hilly course I train on takes me down to a river walk path in my town, where I'm always happy to see fellow runners and walkers enjoying the outdoors. Part of my course is cross country by some lakes. The melting snow made me think of running in the sand on the beach, a real nice workout!

Hope everyone had a fun holiday and that their training and fundraising are going well!

A mantra from my last yoga class: Live, Love, Serve, Breath, and you will see!

Jim

Happy Monday!

Hi everyone,

Karen pointed out today that the Hyannis races are already 75% sold out.  I know some of you have already signed up- good work!  If you want to participate but haven't registered, please do so now!

I also wanted to remind everyone that the first fundraising challenge is underway.  Whoever raises the most this week (I started counting on Sunday) will win some wonderful prizes from Polar.  I'll check in later in the week to let you know who is in the running.

I hope everyone's training is going well!

-Rebekah

Thursday Night Crossroads Pub Running Tradition- thanks Greg!

Us local runners might want to try to get together for a Thursday night run - I am game!


-Rebekah

From Greg:

One of the great marathon training traditions is the weekly Thursday night run from Crossroads Pub at 495 Beacon Street in Boston's Back Bay (intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Beacon Street). These runs are infinitely informal. No sign up, no rsvp, no mandatory course, no water stops. It's a lot of fun, and everyone is encouraged to come by. Some diehards "Do the Thursday" all year long.

Here's how it works. Meet at Crossroads after work. Change into your running clothes. Leave your stuff at the upstairs bar (be smart with your valuables, of course) and enjoy your run. Afterwards, return to Crossroads, change into dry clothes and have a beer or soft drink or two.

Important safety reminder: Wear reflective clothing because it will definitely be dark!

Crossroads Irish Pub is located on 495 Beacon Street on the corner of Beacon and Mass Ave.  You can also get there from the Greenline taking the Hynes Convention Center or Kenmore Square stops.

The Hills

Beginning in December, many people use Thursday night to run The Hills—the several hills that comprise Heartbreak Hill. To do so, take the T from the Hynes Convention center stop on Mass Ave. (Green Line D train, aka "Riverside") to Woodland stop and run back in on the course. You're basically picking up the course around mile 17, running the entire hill section and finishing at Crossroads. It's about a 9 mile run, providing valuable experience on the marathon's toughest section.

Timing for hill runners: Meet at Crossroads at 5:45 p.m., be ready to leave for the T at 5:50, and start the run in from Woodland around 6:30.

The course: from Woodland T parking lot, turn right and run Route 16 till you reach the Fire Station (approx 1/2 mile), take a right on Commonwealth Ave. (running the carriage road to your left), run to Cleveland Circle taking a right on Chestnut Hill Ave. and then a left on Beacon St., ending at Crossroads. It's about 5.5 miles to Cleveland Circle, and another 3.2 or so to Crossroads. If you're not sure about running the full distance, keep a T pass with you. After about 5 miles, you'll have numerous opportunities to hop on the Green Line.

Martha's Vineyard 20 Miler

Hi all!

In addition to the Hyannis race, I think the Martha's Vineyard 20 miler might be a fun group run. It is on February 19, the weekend before Hyannis. It is a great opportunity to do a 20 mile run under race conditions and with hydration / fuel support. I ran this last year and had a great time. You do have to take the ferry, but the 11am start allows for transportation time. If enough people come it could make for a great post-run party!

www.mv20miler.com

Some Exciting New Things : )

I.   New Balance Becomes the CYCLE Kids Marathon Team Sponsor.  As our sponsor, New Balance will be outfitting each of you with a new pair of running shoes.  There is a catch though- you have to reach your $2000 fundraising milestone before they will send them to you!  Take a look at the New Balance website and pick your favorite shoe- all shoes are fair game.  Email me your choice, your shoe size, and where the shoes should be shipped.  Feel free to take time to try on shoes at a local store before you email me a decision, no rush.  New Balance may be surprising us with more gear and accessories as your training journey unfolds- we'll see!

II.  First Team Fundraising Challenge.  It is time for our first team fundraising challenge!  The challenge will begin on Sunday 12/13 and last until midnight on Saturday 12/18.  I will keep track of each of your fundraising totals that week (Previous donations will not count for this challenge. Donations to your fundraising page as well any offline donations mailed to the office will be counted).  The top fundraiser will win a prize pack from Polar,  including a brand new Polar FT40 Watch/Heartrate Monitor, as well as a hat, water bottle, storage pouch, tote, and jump-rope.  Good luck!

III.  Welcome Karen!  A new team member joined us today- welcome Karen!  Karen is a local runner and is looking forward to training with Adriane, Alex, Justin, Jim, and Jen.  Please feel free to use the blog to figure out a team training schedule so that you all can run together.  Let me know if I can help in any way!

Thank you for all of your hard work- our team fundraising total is already at $3111.30.  We have a long way to go to beat last year's total of $70,000, but I know you can do it!  Having gotten to know each of you, I am confident that this year's team can reach $100,000.  

First team meeting a success!

Hi everyone,

Julie, Carolyn, and I so enjoyed meeting Adriane, Alex, Jen, Jim and Justin at the first team dinner last night!  For those of you who weren't able to make it, a few runners from last year's team came to share their experience, and Team Coach Mary Johanson introduced herself and her training plan (newly uploaded on the Important Docs page).  It was a lot of fun!

Greg Watson, a local tri-athlete and supporter of the team also came to the dinner and helped us think about planning runs and races as a team.  There are three particularly important runs for all of us to know about:

The first is the Hyannis Half Marathon (there is also a full marathon event for you super-ambitious runners).  This will take place on February 27, 2011 in Hyannis, MA.  Last year almost all of our runners ran in Hyannis and we had a great time traveling out there and back together- I hope we will be able to do it all again this year!  I think registration for this race is already open.  Let's get a dialogue started here on the blog so that we know who is interested in participating.  This could be a great time for out-of-towners to come meet their team mates!

The second and third are not quite planned yet.  There will be two long runs along the marathon course that are organized by the BAA- these have not yet been scheduled but they will likely take place in March.  As soon as the dates come out, I will pass the info along to you.

Thank you to everyone who has started their fundraising on Razoo- the pages look great!

Please remember, I'm here for any questions- call or email any time! 617-661-0908, rmueller@cyclekids.org.

Don't forget to comment or post your thoughts on Hyannis!

Rebekah