3 weeks until the deadline

and I still need $250.

I'm thinking I might do another fundraiser at Rosie's. It was good for about $50 and if the weather is nice, it might encourage people to stop in for a treat.

I am pretty sure I can raise at least $100 more, but I might need to cover some of the end. Oh well.

It was a good run!

I can't believe it's over!

It was a great race. I finished in 5 hours! And I only have $480 more dollars to raise in the next three weeks before they charge my account!

I had a lot of foot pain and knee pain and afterward some tummy trouble/nausea. But overall, I am super psyched about it. I actually teared up a bit when I rounded that last turn and saw the finish line. Oh Boston. What a day.

Thank you so much to everyone who helped me get this far and everyone who will donate in the next couple weeks. You ROCK!

$660 to go and EXPO

As the last couple days approach, I am constantly getting donations. Some large, some small, but all greatly moving me forward toward my goal. I am $660 away from $4000 and really feeling positive that I'll make it, especially knowing that people can donate for a few weeks post race day as well.

I went to the convention center today to pick up my bib number: 23164

While I was there I enjoyed the many booths with free stuff galore. It was like a massive carnival for runners and supporters. Food, energy bars, shoes, etc etc. It was awesome!

We also got free shirts and I picked up my nice and ridiculously expensive commemorative jacket.

There was a video station where they showed a course preview with lots of inspiring words of wisdom from seasoned marathoners and beginners alike. There was a lot of talk about the "promises" we make to the people in our lives as being the inspiration for running. This hit home as I thought of my family and of Children's Hospital and the money I'm trying to raise for them. I am just so honored to be part of this history. As the video said (as I tried to not tear up too much!), we are running in the footsteps of those who came before us, as those in the future will be running in ours.

This is really happening!
2 days to go!

News Articles

I have been featured for my marathon run in 3 newspaper and online news articles.

The Wellesley news ran an article in February about me!

The Topeka-Capitol Journal did a feature on me last month

And now the Wellesley Public Affairs released an article about me!

With $1500 to go, I hope people start getting motivated! We can do it!

Go Team Elaina!

4 days

and the donations keep coming in!
Keep 'em coming!

http://howtohelp.childrenshospital.org/bostonmarathon/pfp/?ID=ME0064

I have to raise $1500 more. I'm also planning on making a sizable donation myself, so as long as people keep going with it, I think I may actually have a shot.

I've been getting a lot of smaller donations which worried me for a while, but if 150 more people give $10, I'll be set. Or, if 75 people give $20. Etc.

Might I actually make it??

5 days to go!

until Marathon Monday!

I'm still $1700 short of my goal and I'm starting to get a bit worried! The good news is that I have several weeks after the run in order to come up with the money and also that between me and my fiance we can probably cover it with our subsequent paychecks. The bad news is that that will suck! I am trying to save up enough money so that he can fly out to visit me next summer while I'll be living in Africa. Unfortunately, I only have until graduation to officially work (until the Peace Corps of course and then I probably will have a part time job in medical school if I can afford to spend the time).

Basically, DONATE! Tell your friends! I need all the help I can get so I don't have to pay the entire difference myself!

Training is great. I truly believe I am physically ready! I've had a bit of fasciitis on my left foot, but I'm taking care of it and doing cross training. I think tomorrow I'm going to try and run 3 miles without stopping. Dope up on ibuprofen!

Thanks to everyone who has helped support me so far; I couldn't do it without you!

E

Tapering!

Well, after the 21 miles I ran a week ago, I am feeling pretty good.

That run went well and I won't do more than 8 from here on out.

I'm staying limber and stretched out, continuing to get enough protein and carbs, and just planning on enjoying these next two weeks of low mileage.

The weather has been great as well!

As far as fundraising goes, I have officially gotten to the $2000 mark and have less than $2000 to go. I am going to start investigating plan B options. If anyone has any ideas, let me know!

Other than the money issue, training is going well and I'm getting excited for the race in 2 weeks!

I'll post in a few days with my official BAA number! Eek!

~E

Thank you Rosie's!

I just wanted to thank Rosie's for holding the fundraiser and everyone who came out and bought some tasty treats! The event went well and they invited me back for another go in a couple weeks! I am also looking at Bruegger's Bagels. They have a program where they'll do 15% of the profits of people who come in with a flyer for my event. Which sounds pretty sweet. I'm also thinking about selling Lemon Thai pad thai plates for $5 each and just getting a huge plate of it from them for $90. I'm not really sure what kind of profits I'd actually get from that, but I would need to sell 33 plates in order to make a $50 profit to donate. So...I'm looking into that.

All in all, it was a great day ($50) and if I do it again, combined with some other events, I might just have a shot at it. I am pretty sure I'll make the March 15th deadline of $1625 (I'm sitting at $1450 now). Worse case scenario...I end up having to pay the difference myself...which is pretty bad, but not the worst thing in the world. It's for a good cause and getting to run the Boston Marathon is such a cool life goal of mine that it's worth it in the end! Right?? right. I'm not sure anyone even reads this haha. oh well.

I hit 17 miles on the treadmill last Saturday and am planning on just doing 12 this week to give my knees a little break. Then, the week after that it's 19. yikes!

wish me luck!

$1000!

It's official. I've met my first big personal goal of $1000!! I need to raise $625 by March 15 and then after that it's on my way to $4000. Slowly but surely. Slowly but surely. (works for training, too!)

Thank you to everyone who has helped me get this far! And thanks in advance to all the people who will help push me to the finish line =D

~Elaina

15 miles

I ran 15 miles yesterday and iced my knees afterward for almost an hour while I watched Grey's Anatomy at work.

Today, no knee pain! Although, the rest of my body hurts like crazy haha. I took some ibuprofen and am resting in bed doing homework today. Tomorrow, I think I'll just do 5 miles!

Things are looking up!

Mild Set Backs

I spent the last few days puking my guts out...and haven't been running at all. Today I am planning on getting in an easy 6 miles and come hell or high water, I am running 15 this weekend. I might take the advice of a fellow trainer and try the treadmill. I think 3 hours on a treadmill is going to be torture, but I'll try to charge up my ipod and download some podcasts that will be interesting. Maybe something medically relevant or a book on tape or something. That could work, yeah. It's just a little too icey/snowy out there for my comfort right now to do go try a new route. I want to wait until it warms up a bit before hitting the marathon route. I think in the next couple weeks I am going to do the 17 miler on the actual trail and test out Heartbreak Hill.

I also was informed by the trainers that I most likely have a mild case of runner's knee. Which makes sense; my knees hurt a lot right after a run and start to be a bit painful around the 8th mile or so. So I've been using the ellipticals a lot to take some of the strain off. Which means I can hook up my laptop and watch missed TV episodes of House or Dexter! Sweet.

The newest fundraising deadline is approaching--$1625 on March 15. Right now I am cruising toward $700. There are still several several people who have yet to donate. I think people are just waiting until the time is closer...which is fine. I feel so behind other people, though. And deadlines freak me out.

I'm having a big bake sale event at Rosie's on March 4th between 3pm and 5pm where 20% of the profits go toward my fundraiser. Please tell people to stop on by, grab some awesome baked goods and support the kids! I'll come back later with more information!

It's snowing

but I'm going out there anyway! 6 miles, baby!

Full Force Fundraising!

I've started my email campaign! So far I've emailed all my Wellesley professors over the last four years, my FYM group, a few friends, and have sent spam to Community and a couple class conferences. I've also asked my work supervisor (who ROCKS) to forward my message to the entire department. I've gotten almost $100 in the last two days...I need that to continue and get even better! I'm seriously going to have a party when I reach $1000. Hopefully that will happen in the next couple weeks.

GOALS:
February 20--> $1000
March 1st-->$2000
April 1st--> $3000
April 19th-->$4000 +

Yes, I admit that I am mildly freaked about the amount of money I still need to raise. What is very frustrating is that if every student here donated $5, I'd have $10,000!!

I am planning on going to Rosie's, a local bakery and asking them to hold a fundraising day where I'll get a certain percentage of the profits. Hopefully that will be beneficial! I'm going to ask next week for a day sometime in early March. I'll widely publicize that event (with proper spam and everything!) and hopefully they'll get a lot of extra business.

I'm also going to make some posters this weekend and put a few up in the campus center. Maybe I can elicit some help from a friend who used me for something similar last year haha.

If anyone has any marathon fundraising ideas that don't require much input, let me know!!

As far as training goes, I'm definitely a bit behind, but catching up quickly. The MCAT had me skipping a couple long runs, but I just ran 12 miles yesterday and this Saturday is 14!!

Tomorrow I'm doing some cross training to let my knees recover from the long run and then it's 6 miles on Wednesday come rain or shine (or blizzard!). Wish me luck!

-Elaina